I did not pass the person verification test. What now?
When you request a copy of your credit report from MyCreditStatus, you will be asked a series of questions in order to verify your identity. The security questions are from Experian, our credit data provider, and relate to your financial history.
You must be able to answer them correctly for Experian to ensure that we are providing the report to the correct person, and not an identity thief.
If you are unable to answer the questions sufficiently to verify your identity, we will ask you to provide the following proof documentation:
- A copy of your ID document
- A proof of address (recent utility bill not older than 3 months)
While it seems inconvenient, we do so to protect you.
There may be more than one explanation if you are having trouble answering security questions because you do not recognize the account information. While the presence of fraudulent activity on your report is one possibility, there may be other explanations that are likely unrelated to identity theft:
* Your account may be listed under a different name than the one you know it by. Sometimes, the company name you see listed on your credit card or account statement may be different than the name of the bank that finances the account and is shown on your credit report. Other times, the lender may report under an abbreviation of the full company name.
* You may not be the primary owner of the account. You may be asked questions about an account for which you are a cosigner or joint account holder. If you are not the one who makes the payments, you may not be as familiar with account details such as the monthly payment amount or the current balance on the account.
* Your information may be linked with that of another individual. In rare cases, your credit information may become linked with the information of another individual whose identification information is similar to yours. This may happen when two family members share the same name and address or when two unrelated individuals have a similar name and social security number. The most common example is a father and son who share the same name, with the son having a generation identifier. For example John Smith Jr. or John Smith III. Omitting that generation identifier can make it difficult to match the correct identification to the credit report, especially if the father and son share the same address.
* Accounts may have been opened in your name fraudulently. If you have been the victim of identity theft, there may be accounts or personal information contained in your credit report that you are not familiar with.