You open your credit report and find your sister’s student loan. Or a card company turns you down, and the report it used lists your twin brother’s car loan. You did not co-sign anything. The accounts are real, and they are hers or his, not yours. This post is about that situation: a brother’s or sister’s accounts in your credit file.
How two siblings end up in one file
Credit bureaus build files by matching account data to people. They compare name, address, Social Security number and date of birth. Lenders do not always send every one of those details. When some are missing, the bureau’s system assigns the account to the file it treats as the closest match.
Siblings give that system very little to work with. You share a last name. You may have shared an address for many years. First names in a family can be close. Twins also share a date of birth. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s study of the three large bureaus found that similar names and addresses among family members make matching difficult. Experian’s consumer guidance says siblings can have their files mixed for the same reasons.
What it looks like
- Your report lists your sibling’s first name as another name you have used.
- You see accounts, collections or credit checks you know belong to your brother or sister.
- A lender denies you and names debts that are not yours.
- Your sibling asks for a report and the bureau cannot find a separate file.
If you see any of these, ask your sibling to check too. When two files are joined, the mistake can show on either report.
Is it identity theft?
Not if your sibling opened the accounts in his or her own name. Those are another person’s real accounts placed in your file. The CFPB treats that as a different error from identity theft. It lists accounts belonging to another person with the same or a similar name apart from accounts that result from identity theft. If someone opened an account using your information, that is identity theft, and you can report it at IdentityTheft.gov.
What to do
- Get your report from all three bureaus. You are entitled to a free copy from each every 12 months through AnnualCreditReport.com. Each bureau keeps its own file on you, so check all three.
- Start with the personal information. Mark every name, birth date and address that is your sibling’s and not yours.
- List every account that is not yours, with the creditor’s name and the account number.
- Dispute in writing with each bureau that shows the error. Say that the accounts belong to your brother or sister, and name him or her. Equifax says that telling the bureau whose information it is may help resolve the dispute.
- Give your full name, date of birth, Social Security number and current address. For twins, the birth date will not tell you apart, so the Social Security number and the full first and middle names matter.
- Attach copies of the report pages with the wrong items circled and documents that show who you are. Send copies, not originals.
- Use certified mail with a return receipt, and keep copies of everything you send and receive.
- Write to each lender that reported a sibling’s account under your name.
What the bureau owes you
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a bureau must follow reasonable procedures to assure the “maximum possible accuracy” of the report it prepares about you. After a dispute, it must reinvestigate for free, in most cases within 30 days. It must pass your dispute to the company that reported the account, and that company has to investigate and report back. You are entitled to the results in writing. Information found to be inaccurate, or that cannot be verified, must be corrected or deleted.
When a lender has already turned you down
A lender that denies you because of a credit report must tell you so and tell you which bureau supplied the report. You can then ask that bureau for a free copy within 60 days of the notice. Keep the denial letter. It shows which report was used and when.
If the accounts stay
If the bureau answers that your sibling’s accounts are “verified,” you can ask it to add a statement of dispute to your file. The Act also allows a consumer to bring a claim in court when a company does not meet these duties. I ask to see the reports, the letters you sent and every answer you received before I say whether there is a claim.
For how this looks in a filed complaint, see examples of mixed credit files from cases I have filed.
Two siblings sharing one file is a form of a mixed credit report. If written disputes have not separated your file from your brother’s or sister’s, a mixed credit report attorney can review your reports and letters. You pay nothing unless we win.
Admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; available to appear pro hac vice in other federal courts.
Sources: 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681e(b), 1681g(a), 1681i, 1681j, 1681o and 1681s-2(b); Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Key Dimensions and Processes in the U.S. Credit Reporting System (December 2012), A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, What are common credit report errors that I should look for on my credit report? and How do I dispute an error on my credit report?; Federal Trade Commission, Report to Congress Under Section 319 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (December 2012), Disputing Errors on Your Credit Reports and Free Credit Reports; Experian, How Can I Separate the Credit Reports of a Father and Son? (July 24, 2022); Equifax, What can I do if I believe my credit file has been mixed with someone else’s?
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