Karin's Adventures

Three times a year I order my free annual credit report from one of the three credit bureaus. It used to be quick, painless, and easy to do online - until two years ago. All of a sudden Equifax and Experian would not let me request my report over the web anymore. When I finally received the report from Equifax, ordering over the phone, I realized why: there was a change in my address.

Somehow an "Apt. 119" had been appended to my home address, which is a single family home, by the way.

That's when a frustrating journey began. I called Equifax to tell them about the error and have it corrected. You'd think that should be easy. It is not. It is actually impossible. They kept telling me they could not correct my address because it was being reported like that by one of my creditors. They would not tell me which one.

Experian just listed "Apt. 119" as one of three addresses somehow "related" to me, but didn't use it as my primary address. Calling them was just as frustrating, though - different reason given: we can't remove or correct any of the addresses associated to you, unless it is your primary address that is incorrect. They also informed me that the address was being reported like that by a creditor, and I needed to talk to the creditor. They would also not tell me which creditor.

A major break-through occurred this year, finally! I had ordered my annual free report from Experian again, over the phone, of course. It arrived today. On it I noticed the "Apt. 119" address came with an "address identification number". The same "address identification number" appeared under the section with our mortgage account. The mortgage that we refinanced two years ago. Apparently the bank had been reporting the address with "Apt. 119" ever since. Don't ask me why.

Logging in to the online user interface for that bank account, going to their "service center", and fixing that address was easy. 

Hopefully, just another two years from now, I will be able to order my Experian and Equifax annual credit reports online again.