Woman Sues Credit Agencies: I'm Not Dead

A 40-year-old St. Louis woman isn't dead, but she said she spent months trying to convince credit reporting agencies that she's alive. Alexandria Goree is suing Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax over the glitch, contending that it was difficult to get loans or a new home, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Her suit, filed last week in federal court, says Goree found a "deceased" notation on her credit files in the summer of 2013. Such a notice can appear when a creditor informs a reporting agency that one of its customers has died.

She said she had to deal with numerous rejections from credit card companies and local businesses because the credit reporting firms said that she was dead. "Anything that would require monthly payments," she said, "I was only able to purchase with cash." She said it took eight months of phone calls, letters, and emails to convince Experian and TransUnion to return her to the land of the living. It's unclear if Equifax also has done so. None of the companies would comment on the lawsuit. (More credit score stories.)