Situation: my first real relationship, starting when I was 17, was with a woman about 5 years older than me. She’d ruined her credit already by the time we got together. While together, she got many credit cards in my name (some with my knowledge and permission, some without - what did I know? I was in love). While we were together she pretty much maxed them out, but she made sure the bills were paid. When we broke up, when I was almost 21, I had great credit because of her. We split up the debt I knew about. However, she didn’t pay anything once we broke up, killing my credit, but that’s neither here nor there.
13 years later (ie, last year), I went to get my free credit rating from annualcreditreport.com. As part of the verification process, you have to answer a few questions like “Which of the following is a previous phone number of yours?” or “Which of the following is a current or previous employer?” One of the questions was about the year I bought a house. Problem: I’ve never bought a house.
Since my credit got ruined so quickly after breaking up with my first girlfriend, and because of her sketchy history with those credit cards, she’s the most likely suspect of any wrongdoing.
Actual questions:
a) Would it have been possible for her to use my ss# and credit score to buy herself a house without my knowledge?
b) If so, how do I find out if that happened?
The mortgage would be on your credit report, presumably.
Was one of the answers “none of these”, though? The last time I got a free credit report, one of the security questions was asking me about a completely unfamiliar loan. I was alarmed at first, but “None of these” was the correct answer.
If there was a mortgage taken out using your SS#, the debt should have showed up on the list of debts on your credit report. If there was no mortgage on the credit report, it wasn’t taken out under your SS#.
This sounds like a chicken-and-egg problem. The OP can’t check his credit report because he doesn’t know when she would have bought a house. And he can’t know when she would have bought a house without looking at his credit report.
When you were told that your answer was wrong, were you given the chance to answer a replacement question? I have this (unfortunately) vague memory of running into a similar situation, where I was asked a question I couldn’t answer; I think it was something like confirming the last four digits of one of my credit card accounts, except that it was an account I no longer used (which was one of the reasons I was requesting my credit report, so I could check for accounts I needed to close). I remember being offered the mail option, but I’m certain I was able to resolve it some other way. What I might have done is abort the request and try again later, at which time I was offered a different set of questions.
What I’ve gotten in the past from there is a multiple-page report which listed every credit card/line of credit/mortgage I’ve ever had, several past addresses, and other information. The one piece of information it didn’t give me for free was my credit score; I could have gotten it by paying a small fee, however.
I say try again, maybe with a different credit agency. With luck, they won’t ask about the mortgage. Or, you could take the list of choices and call each institution. Ask them if they have any records under your SSN.
Coincidentally, I just checked annualcreditreport.com about three hours ago to check up on my credit info. It is indeed the same as it’s always been: credit report free, credit score fee (although it did have an offer somewhere that said “Get your FREE* credit report,”) with the predictable asterisk leading you to all sorts of terms and conditions (the typical 30-day trial that must be canceled, lest you give up your first-born son as payment for the service.)
I recall that during a similar verification process I was asked a question on a credit account I never had, and the answer was like not applicable or something.
Did you try all three credit agencies? Last time I tried checking my credit reports (about a year ago), I could get the reports from Equifax and Experian without any trouble, but Transunion wouldn’t verify my identity online.
