Good Thing Credit Is Easy to Get These Days

I got home tonight to a message on my answering machine from American Express. The message directed me to call a number, and, when I did, I was told that a limit was being placed on my account. When I asked why, the woman told me that I had had too many delinquencies and new accounts. When I mentioned that I had no delinquencies and that the only account I had opened in at least the past three years was to buy our car, she told me to take it up with Experian. So I did.

My credit records, it seems, have been combined with those of someone who lives upstate and has a name similar to mine. The facts that this guy (1) is as old as my mother and (2) has a different social security from mine seem not to have been considered relevant.

I can't fix this until tomorrow. Fortunately, I have nothing important to do—I mean, besides my job, of course. And I'm sure that TransUnion and Equifax are equally screwed up, but I can't think about that right now.