I've been reviewing my different credit reports (from Experian, Equifax and Transunion). Equifax spelled my name wrong, and it's not extremely clear that I managed to fix that. But that's not the issue.

Transunion didn't let me access the information online. So I called them and identified with my social security number. Then they sent me a letter in the mail (spelling my name wrong) saying "Unable to Locate Credit Report". From looking online, it seems that people have been fighting battles against Transunion for much longer than I have. I was wondering: why is this, and how much should I worry? Does it affect my credit score? Is there an easy way to resolve this?

  • how long do you expect your credit history to be? How many accounts do you have? Maybe no-one reported you to TransUnion yet... – littleadv Sep 21 '11 at 0:36
  • I've had a credit card for about 2 years now. I'm here on an F1 visa. – Nicole Sep 21 '11 at 0:38
  • I'm enrolled in only one bank. – Nicole Sep 21 '11 at 0:39
  • 1
    So it's possible that the credit card company doesn't report to transunion. They won't have a record on you out of nowhere. – littleadv Sep 21 '11 at 1:16
  • 1
    Bank? Or credit card? Not the same thing. Checking/savings accounts aren't reported anywhere. – littleadv Sep 21 '11 at 5:06

Yes, absence of a report at a CRA does hurt your "credit score" as you have none from them.

Can you ask your bank to tell you who they report to?

As people have mentioned, it's important to share with us who you bank with.

Your friend might not realize that he might have different accounts at another bank or even different line of credit than you at the same bank.

Since you are both on F1 visa, you work(ed) on-campus to have got the SSN and hence the cards.

Consider this:

  • Do both of you work under the same funding source on-campus?
  • Do both of you use the same wireless provider?
  • Did you friend sign up for a store card to get that one time discount?
  • Do both of you rent the same place?

Some landlords report to TU, some to EQ, etc

I am having issues with misspellings on my own credit reports as well but I have found the CS at TU to be very helpful once you have your report number in hand.


I had pretty similar problem with the same agency. As result I sent fax with my SSN card and cover letter, in few weeks they fixed their database. Good luck!

Your Answer

