Mistakenly reported dead lawsuit investigation

Mistakenly reported dead: Who’s affected?

Have you been reported deceased by a credit reporting company, the Social Security Administration or other entity? It can take years of ruined plans and damaged finances to come alive again on paper and reclaim your life.

Did you wake up one morning to discover that you had “died” in the night when you were declared deceased by a credit bureau or government agency?

When you are “dead” on paper, it can seem like you no longer exist, especially since you might be blocked from access to most financial or related opportunities, including:

• Opening bank accounts or withdrawing from existing ones
• Transferring money
• Applying for credit including a mortgage, student loan and car financing
• Renting an apartment
• Signing official documents
• Being hired or getting paid
• Receiving government benefits, including Social Security
• Renewing a personal or professional driver’s license
• Securing a business license
• Using or renewing credit cards

Un-living a life

A 13-year-old was declared dead by the Social Security Administration (SSA), according to the NBC News affiliate in Washington DC. Her mother found out when she received her daughter’s denial letter for medical benefits. Government agencies didn’t know how to fix the mess, so they repeatedly pointed her elsewhere.

A middle-aged man found his health insurance, credit cards, and pension stalled after he was mistakenly declared dead.

A student, mistakenly declared deceased, lost her scholarship and was not able to graduate from college. She didn’t know why for nearly four months, according to People. It took her another 15 years to exist again.

Their fault, your problem

This mistake happens more often than you might think. The SSA keeps a Death Master File, a database of Social Security numbers belonging to those officially declared deceased, and disseminates the list to other government agencies. Perhaps as many as 12,000 living people mysteriously land on the list each year, a figure reported by the SSA itself. The list is composed of death reports from some states, family members, funeral homes and financial institutions. 

More mistakes are made by creditors who report your so-called death to credit reporting companies, creating misinformation that travels through the internet to banks, agencies, states, retailers, insurance companies and others.

How does it happen? People make mistakes. Machines compound them. Information may be wrongly input into a database or co-mingled with other files (perhaps as the result of the death of a co-signer or a divorce). Identity theft is another source of this error. Was your identity stolen? Better check your credit reports right away because you might be worth more to criminals “dead” than alive.

No matter how it happens, it is your responsibility to come alive again. You might need help, including possibly filing a lawsuit, before more harm is done.

Government agencies and credit reporting companies say they will fix mistakes, but you still have to do the work, including learning the procedures, finding appropriate (in some cases original) paperwork, and properly informing and visiting various agencies and companies. This will involve the three main credit agencies, the Social Security Administration, and any entity that acted on your misreported death, among them banks, lenders, insurance companies, schools and universities, employers, customers, service providers, and anyone else with whom you do business.

Contact credit reporting bureaus

Get free copies of your credit reports from each of the three credit reporting bureaus and review them line by line, making detailed notes on errors, inaccuracies, and misleading information. You may even find discrepancies among the reports.

File a dispute as instructed by each one of the three credit reporting bureaus. It is always best to submit disputes by certified mail because online dispute platforms frequently require you to agree to terms and conditions that include waiving your right to file a lawsuit. You may, in fact, need to sue, so don’t give up your rights.

The three credit bureaus are:

Equifax Information Services, LLC
P.O. Box 740256
Atlanta, GA  30374-0256

TransUnion Consumer Solutions
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016

Experian
P.O.  Box 45000
Allen, TX 75013

Contact the Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration (SSA) requires a specific procedure for correcting this error and advises that if you are declared dead, you must go to your local Social Security office as soon as possible.  You will need to bring one of the following pieces of identification. 

• Passport
• Driver’s license
• Employee ID card
• Military record
• School ID card, record or report card
• Marriage or divorce record
• Adoption record
• Health insurance card (except a Medicare card)
• Certified copy of medical record
• Life insurance policy
• Court order for name change
• Church membership that establishes your identity

It is best to bring more than one document in case one is not accepted as proof of your existence. You must present original documents or copies that have been certified by the agencies that issued them. SSA does not accept photocopies, notarized copies or receipts showing you applied for the documents. All documents must be current, not expired.

When SSA corrects your record, you will receive a letter that you can give to banks, lenders, service providers, healthcare facilities, or others to show that your death report was in error. This letter is called ­­­­the “Erroneous Death Case — Third Party Contact” Notice. 

You have the right to sue

All of this takes time and doesn’t always work. Even if you haven’t hired an attorney to help you through the laborious dispute process, you may want to sue to protect yourself legally. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) demands that consumer-reporting agencies correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information, usually within 30 days.

It also puts legal obligations on them and other data furnishers to use a “duty of care” in collecting and reporting data and investigating consumer disputes.

You may seek cash compensation if the FCRA is violated, or if you have been damaged financially, which is often the case. You may also seek redress if you have not been treated fairly, if the process was not completed accurately, and if the ordeal has shattered your mental health and well-being. Importantly, when you’ve been erroneously declared deceased, you may be able to bring a lawsuit even without proving harm. In addition, while the FCRA protects you anywhere in the U.S., states may provide additional protections and methods for compensation in state courts.