How to know if someone used/stole your credit? (credit report, mortgage, bureaus)

[ialwayswin001]

My friend had a bad credit and he's working on making it better. He saw on his report that there's a mortgage and a car loan under his name even though he hasn't bought a car on his credit card or a home, and he's never co-sign anyone. I am wondering what can he do to determine if someone used his credit and if someone indeed did steal his credit, what can he do? I have an excellent credit score and I am not sure how these things are handled, and got me worried in case it happens to me.

[rjm1cc]

It is not uncommon for mistakes to be made on credit reports. He can write to the 3 major credit co's and explain that the items are not his and ask that they be removed. Give as much detail as you can to support your position. You can also do this on line.

[CarolJM7628]

Your friend should also consider locking up his credit with the credit bureaus. My daughter did that when someone used her identity to file false tax return. So, when that someone tried to open a credit card under her name a few months later, the bank called her to verify and the attempt was caught and aborted.

I have to say that the gathering, maintaining and releasing of personal credit information should belong to a federal government agency and should be done as a public service, not owned and run by private companies who make large profit from selling these private data. If you ever have question/concerns about your credit report or if errors are found in your credit report, it is nearly impossible to get them corrected or obtain further information. In addition, all 3 credit bureaus keep their own database; so there are 3 versions of your credits out there. Personal credit data should belong to the individual citizens and should not be sold for profits without their consent, especially when the data include errors.

For example, in the process of verifying my identify, I am often asked about a person who I know little about. This is all because I let a friend's friend use our home address for her important mails when she lived abroad for a year. Now, in order to confirm my own identity, I am required to know every aspect of a stranger's life. This entire system is so warped!!! This is yet another example where the government outsources its key responsibilities to large predatory companies who make huge profits from average citizens! This is yet another example our politicians sell out our interests to the large cooporations and interest groups.