Jennifer Hendrickson learned of her alleged passing from the bank.
The Winfield resident, intent on buying a car in 2012, applied for a loan. The bank ran a credit check and informed her that, according to credit bureau Equifax, she was dead.
Hendrickson quickly realized the problem. Her sister, Jessica Hendrickson, died in a car accident in 2008. The two shared almost identical Social Security numbers. The only difference was the last number in the sequence: Jessica’s was a four, Jennifer’s is a three.
Equifax inadvertently had merged the two and showed Jennifer Hendrickson, like her sister, as deceased.
In the years that followed, Hendrickson tried to get Equifax to separate her information from her sister’s.
“It shows that I took out student loans and had medical bills prior to even turning 18 or graduating from high school,” Hendrickson said. “After many efforts to dispute this conflict, I still don’t have my own credit file.”
Hendrickson said she thought she had everything straightened out a number of times, but nothing has changed.
“Two to three weeks ago, I tried to retrieve my credit file to make sure all of the corrections have been made, and Equifax says I do not have an existing file,” she said.
After recently trying to obtain a mortgage, only to be told the erroneous Equifax report was holding her back, Hendrickson emailed What’s Your Problem?
“It is frustrating,” she said. “I feel helpless.”
Hendrickson said the problem rests solely with Equifax. Reports from TransUnion and Experian are accurate, she said.
But when banks or others do a credit check, they repeatedly get tripped up by the Equifax report that combines her information with her sister’s.
Even worse is the emotional toll.
“Every time I go to check my credit or anything, it tells me I’m deceased and it just reminds me of my sister,” Hendrickson said. “It’s like reliving it again and again and again.”
The Problem Solver called Meredith Griffanti, a spokeswoman for Equifax, and explained Hendrickson’s situation. On Friday, an Equifax representative called Hendrickson to say everything has been resolved.
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“They pulled up my document,” she said. “Basically, what they told me is, somewhere along the line, someone put in my Social Security number instead of hers.”
Because of that, she never truly had her own credit report at Equifax, she said. Her credit history was always combined with her sister’s.
Equifax has erased all of her sister’s information, Hendrickson said she was told. The credit reporting agency has promised to send her an email containing her credit file and a credit report, she said.
“I feel so relieved,” Hendrickson said. “I’ll have my score with everything I’ve done.”
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