Husband and Wife credit reports
Are credit reports separate for a husband and wife or is it typically a joint credit report?
My wife received one of the IDES (unsolicited) debit cards, do we need to request monitoring or freezing of our credit information for each of us or jointly?
What kind of fee can be expected from the different credit reporting companies?
Do we each need to sign up to have our credit monitored by each service?
Terry Says
Yes, you should each have a separate report — although there will certainly be duplicate items if you are both listed on a mortgage, for example.
Follow the instructions below to FREEZE your credit reports at each of the three bureaus. If you do that you should not need to pay for monitoring. And a freeze is free! Also ask about a free fraud alert.
*******************
DON’T ACTIVATE THAT CARD. But DO freeze your credit report!
This link gives you instructions on how to do that:
https://www.terrysavage.com/ides-and-identity-theft/
(Use the links in this column to all 3 bureaus to freeze your report.)
As well, take a look at your report and focus on “recent inquiries” to see if any banks made an inquiry. That could signal that someone opened a new bank account in your name. Those don’t show up on credit reports, but inquiries do!
Then relax because this is a problem for KeyBank and IDES – but you have no liability. And don’t waste your time trying to report it—because it’s almost impossible to get through their toll-free lines.
