Category Archives: Mixed Case File

No Need To Buy A Vowel: Most Popular Italian Surnames

You’re probably aware that many Italian surnames have a vowel as the final letter, but the number of them that end with an A, E, I, or O might surprise you. Of the top 100 Italian surnames, 96 fit that convention! Piras, de Angelis, de Santis, and Dal are the only four that do not […]

Germans in America: Fun Facts, Possible Problems

The story of German people in America is as old as the story of America itself. Most people know that immigrants from all over Europe flocked to the United States in the 1800s, but the German population here had some 200 years of American life under their belts by then. A few of the notable […]

Are You Indian-American? Here’s Why You Need to Check Your Credit Report with a Microscope

India is well-known as one of the world’s most populous countries, with just under 1.4 billion people calling that South Asian nation home—but Indians are living all over the globe, of course, and the Indian diaspora is the largest in the world. As of 2020, there are 18 million Indians living outside of their home […]

Japanese-Americans Face Unique Credit Issues Due to Their Surnames

If you had to guess, which U.S. city has the largest population of Japanese-Americans? There’s a good chance you said “San Francisco,” and that’s not far off—but San Fran, or “Soko,” as it was known to the first wave of Japanese immigrants, only comes in third. Honolulu tops the list, followed closely by second-place Los […]

Common Customer Complaints about Credit Reporting Bureaus (Part 2)

In our last post (click here to read part 1), we looked at the dramatic increase in consumers’ complaints against the national credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. But, of course, we need to do more than know the number of complaints we need to pay attention to. We also want to examine the types […]

Common Customer Complaints about Credit Reporting Bureaus (Part 1)

By law, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issues an annual report analyzing consumers’ complaints made to CFPB. The number of complaints has exploded in recent years, and it’s just a tiny fraction of the complaints made directly to the relevant companies. And it’s worth looking at some of the findings relating to those complaints. […]

Can You Tell the Difference Between Identity Theft and Mixed Files?

You may be familiar with the problem of identity theft. But can you tell apart identity theft, and a “mixed file” issue where a credit reporting agency (“CRA”) mixes up the credit history of two or more people? Making the distinction can be very important for deciding how to respond. How Can I Tell if […]

Consumer Reporting Complaints (Part 2)

Read part 1 by clicking here! From January 2020 to September 2021, CFPB received more than 700,000 consumer complaints about Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax—the national credit reporting agencies (NCRAs). But the number of successfully resolved complaints dropped to just 5%. Why? According to a recent report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), one reason […]

Mistaken Identities on a Credit Report: An All-too Common Problem for People with Common Names… (and Those with Unusual Ones, Too….)

In 2014, 38,313 men in the United States shared the name “James Smith.” It’s impossible to know if any of them were related to each other, or the 34,810 Michael Smiths and 34,269 Robert Smiths also walking around. But we can expect that they, and the 32,092 Maria Garcias and 30,507 Maria Rodriguezes, all have […]

The Mixed-Up Files of Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion: What Happens When You and Your Neighbor Have the Same Name

Is your name James Smith? If so, you’re not just not alone, but as far from alone as it’s possible to be. That’s because this is the most common combination of first and last names in the world. And chances are you’ve developed a way to distinguish yourself, at least in your social circle or […]