NORFOLK--Retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Melvin Ingram is working as a contractor in the war in Afghanistan.
But a bigger battle for him is brewing back here at home. He's been fighting to get a mistake cleared from his credit report, with no luck.
Back in 2005, Ingram sold a house he owned in Waldorf, Maryland. He bought a new home in Chesapeake. Then in 2009, he noticed a problem. His credit report showed two delinquent mortgage payments on his former Waldorf home made five years after he sold the home. He thought, how could that be?
"In 2005, I sold that property and it's been an ongoing battle ever since," says Ingram by phone from Afghanistan.
Now in 2011, Ingram has yet to get the mess cleared up, even after writing several letters to his former mortgage company and the credit bureau.
Tuwanna Jones, a financial counselor with the Up Center in Norfolk, says errors on credit reports are extremely common, but fighting to fix the problem is easier than what most people would probably think. It starts with a dispute.
"You get a copy of your credit report and then at that time you go through your credit report and you make the disputes from there," Jones explains.
Jones says everyone can get a free copy of their credit report at least once a year from annualcreditreport.com
She said that each credit agency, Trans Union, Experian and Equifax, has instructions on its Web site on how you can officially dispute an entry, and the results of a dispute should be released within 45 days. Jones recommends Virginians start their dispute with Equifax because its the agency most creditors in the state report to.
"Everyone does not report to all three credit bureaus because there's a charge for creditors to report, so they report to the one that's more prevalent in our area and that's Equifax," says Jones.
Ingram says frustration is an understatement when it comes to fighting the problem. He worries about enlisted soldiers who have the same problem and don't understand how to fight for themselves to get the problems corrected.
His efforts are starting to pay off.
The delinquencies were finally removed from his report but Equifax is still reporting the mortgage account as open. He'll continue to fight that.
