Posted by Jayhawk/KS on 1/12/11 9:28am
Msg #368208

background check from Lexis Nexis

A couple of months ago, someone mentioned free background checks from Lexis Nexis. I took advantage of that. I called them asking if it was true, and ended up taking care of it over the phone. I received a detailed report a few days later in the mail. This report even inlcuded my parent's names, their dates of birth etc. It included addresses I haven't lived in for over 20 years!

On it I noticed another person's name, address, part of their social, place of employment, size of their home, value of their home etc. I had noticed this same name popping up on previous reports a few years before but had never done anything about it. Now, with all this extra information, I was concerned. This person lived in my state, but several hundred miles away and in a city I had never lived in.

Long story short, I called Social Security and they said they'd send me a booklet about how to go about clearing up this problem. I then decided to pull a credit report on the internet. I choose Experian, just because it was first in the list. Her information was on my report, credit cards, numbers, mixed up in all of my stuff. I found out even more about this woman. Now I was truly worried. I called Experian's toll free number, and after about 5 minutes of pushing #'s I finally got a live person, who helped me. She said, I can see more than you see, and I can tell what happened, and I will remove her information from your record, it will just take a few minutes. After about 8 minutes she came back and told me what she had done, and said I'd receive an email in up to 48 hours that would reflect the correct information.

The new report came today as a link in an email. I'm so glad I went the extra mile, to get this all cleared up. The only thing I forgot to ask is if I need to go thru this with the other 2 credit reporting agencies.

I would encourage those of you that haven't checked you own reports to do so. It's free and you might be surprised what you find.

Reply by melissa/pa on 1/12/11 9:54am
Msg #368211

Wow! Thanks for the information. I paid for a background check from Lexis Nexus last yr and saw that same post you referenced about the free one. I will do that next time.
It is so important to check your credit report. I went to a closing and the woman stated that if it wasn't for refinancing she would not have known about another persons name that was showing up on her report. The ss# was one digit off and because her name was common, their names were off by middle initial only. Another borrower with a common name, ie. Smith, Jones, something like that..stated that she actually had the police come to her door and take her picture so they could clear up her and another woman with the same name.

Reply by LisaWI on 1/12/11 10:10am
Msg #368212

"This report even inlcuded my parent's names, their dates of birth etc."

Now this just bothers me. Why would that info be in your report? Of what concern is it to a BGC?

Glad to hear you got things straightened out though.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 1/12/11 10:21am
Msg #368214

Mine also listed anyone I might have ever possibly been associated with - my brother-in-law's parents, for example.

Reply by ReneeK_MI on 1/12/11 11:15am
Msg #368225

Reminder - ANNUAL credit report dot com, NOT

the 'other' one with the cute songs on TV.

Also, the Lexis/Nexis reports pulled parents info off your birth certs (public record).

Reply by FlaNotary2 on 1/12/11 11:29am
Msg #368230

Most of the time, birth certificates are not public record

Especially in Florida. Birth certificates will only be issued to the child named on the certificate, the child's parents, or an attorney representing one of those parties.

Anyone else must have a notarized affidavit signed by an authorized person that authorizes that person to obtain a copy.

And despite what many websites promise, the information from Florida birth databases is NOT available from any website, library, database, etc.

Reply by ReneeK_MI on 1/12/11 2:34pm
Msg #368257

You're absolutely correct, my apologies

Thanks for the reality-check, I now recall the horrors of trying to obtain a copy of my own birth cert, no picnic that!

Reply by BrendaTx on 1/12/11 2:40pm
Msg #368259

They are getting the info somewhere, though.

A co-worker's child's SS has been stolen and is being used. She's trying to get to the bottom of it.

Reply by Alz on 1/12/11 12:07pm
Msg #368236

Agree w/you. I obtain my credit reports

from all three bureaus free of charge annually to ensure the accuracy of the data. As you have notice, people working in the bureaus do my mistakes.

Reply by MW/VA on 1/12/11 11:35am
Msg #368231

Interesting info. Too bad it took a background check for you to be aware of incorrect info on your credit report. I suscribe to a service through Costco called Identity Guard. It costs $9.49/mo & is worth every cent, IMO. I have access to my credit report & credit scores anytime I want, and receive an alert if there is any activity in any of the 3 credit reporting agencies. BTW, I'm not advertising, just passing along something that has proved very valuable to me.
Also, thanks for the reminder. I need to update my Lexis-Nexis report.

Reply by Jayhawk/KS on 1/12/11 2:48pm
Msg #368264

I had talked to my husband about calling this lady and he said to drop it. I'm glad I went the extra mile and pursued the matter on my own. I didn't call her, but I did get it straightened out. Do you think I need to check the other 2 credit reporting agencies to see what their show, or do they cross reference each other? I might as well get it all straighened out at one time and be finished with it. The lady at Experian also added in the name of my company, my husband's name and my middle name. So hopefully that will clear up any other problems in the future. I did note that they had the wrong place of death for my dad, but, I didn't clear that up. I figured it didn't matter, they had the place of burial correct, but the wrong state as place of death.

Reply by MW/VA on 1/12/11 6:41pm
Msg #368313

IMO you will need to contact the other 2 agencies. They all work separately. Again, you realize that the bgc runs your credit report. There was a class-action suit a couple of years ago from LexixNexis about correcting incorrect information. I got $1,000 from that one! Wooohoooo!