Pittsburgh woman says credit bureau declared her dead

Brooks was trying to buy a car when the loan officer told her shed been declared dead.

VIDEO: Watch Paul Van Osdols report

Shes like, It says youre deceased when I pull up the credit. Im like, Impossible. Im sitting right here, Brooks said.

She learned a credit card company had confused her with her mother-in-law, who died in 2004. That information ended up on Brooks’ credit report.

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When Brooks tried to correct her report two of the major credit bureaus, TransUnion and Equifax, quickly brought her back to life. But despite her repeated attempts, Experian — the nations largest credit bureau — would not take her off the death list.

Reporter Paul Van Osdol: You look very much alive to me.

Brook: Yes.

Van Osdol: Youre breathing?

Brooks: Yes.

Van Osdol: But Experian says youre dead?

Brooks: Right, and I dont understand how they can do that to somebody.

Death by credit bureau has been a real problem for Brooks. She applied for a JC Penney card and was denied because her credit report said she was dead.

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She was also denied a Target card for the same reason. She had to have her husband co-sign her car loan. And thats not all.

Its causing a lot of havoc. I mean, I couldnt get my daughter school loans for college, Brooks said.

In desperation, she turned to credit repair specialist Daniel Coleman. He gave Experian the information he thought would prove Brooks is alive.

I mean, we sent pay stubs, utility bills, Social Security card, driver’s license, Coleman said.

Experian did fix part of its report, correcting Brooks name and employer information. But her credit report continued to say she was dead.

Van Osdol: So theyre saying she has a job but theyre still saying shes dead?

Coleman: Thats correct. Shes the working dead.

Under federal law, credit bureaus have 45 days to investigate and correct reports disputed by consumers. But Coleman spent four months pushing Experian to revive Brooks.

Im not sure Experian is in compliance with the FTC regulations, Coleman said.

The Federal Trade Commission oversees credit bureaus. The FTC declined to comment about Brooks case.

WTAE asked Experian repeatedly to answer questions about Brooks situation. The company finally got back late last week and said because of Channel 4 Action News inquiries it is in the process of removing the deceased status from Brooks account.

Experian spokesperson Kristine Snyder said, The Experian customer relations team had taken the steps in correcting the consumers file when she first contacted us and believed the issue to have been corrected. After you contacted us last week, the customer relations team was notified and they quickly took action and worked with the credit card company to have the file corrected.”

Just last month, Channel 4 Action News reported a Wexford man blamed Experian for making him a victim of identity theft.

The company has also faced criticism from Congress for its failure to protect consumers confidential information.

Brooks is relieved to hear Experian is finally taking action in her case but she still wonders why it took so long.

If I did something wrong or got in trouble, I would have to pay for what I did and I believe these people should be held accountable for what they did,” she said.

You do not have to be declared dead to question whats in your credit report. An FTC study last year found one out of every five consumers had an error in their credit report.

Experts said you should check your report from all three major credit bureaus at least once a year.