Credit Report News: What are credit report subfiles, and do they exist?

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Wednesday, June 09, 2004

What are credit report subfiles, and do they exist? The term subfile, as used by some consumer advocates, describes the case where a credit bureau has a file under your Social Security number, but with someone else's name and address. Credit bureaus deny that subfiles exist - at least, we assume, to the extent that this this situation would cause someone else's bad credit to appear on your report.

Credit bureaus get most of their information from lenders. If a lender reports an incorrect Social Security number (due to fraud or error), that information will be stored by the credit bureaus, but a loan taken out under that SSN is unlikely to appear on your credit report because the credit bureaus do their primary "lookup" based on name and address.

This is still a concern, however, because a HAWK, SafeScan, or FACS alert can appear (depending on whether it is TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian) indicating that your Social Security number is questionable. You could be denied credit based on that fact!

Note: The credit bureaus and their business customers have an ability to do lookups based on Social Security number. This capability is not available to consumers, but, if denied credit, it is worth a try to ask the credit grantor or credit bureau fraud investigator to do a "Social search" to determine if your SSN is being used by someone else.
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