Help Me Hank: Bogus Bill

It was adorable new baby Ainsley that pushed the Kanes into critical mass.

Their now too small home in Quincy just had to be expanded.

Tom Kane, Home Owner
"It was either sell the house of make more rooms for everybody."

The solution -- refinancing and remodeling, not so tough in these days of low interest rates.

Tom Kane
"I called my bank and they gave me a great rate, everything was all set to go."

The home loan was such a sure thing, Tom started the renovations, but then the first weird thing. The bank said there was a problem on Tom and his wife's credit report.

Hank Phillippi Ryan, Investigative Reporter
"Did you think that would e a problem?"

Tom Kane
"No, I just bought the house a year ago and everything was fine."

So the report arrived with the second weird thing. It showed Tom had $5,000 of unpaid property taxes in the town of Springfield.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"Had you ever lived in Springfield?"

Tom Kane
"No."

Hank Phillippi Ryan
Did you have property in Springfield?

Tom Kane
"No."

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"Was this your tax lien."

Tom Kane
"No!"

But figuring this was an easy one, Tom called the registry of deeds.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"What did you think?"

Tom Kane
"I just thought it would be a simple phone call."

But inside the Hampden County Registry, things got even weirder, to clear this up Tom was told, he'd have to bring in his Springfield address.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"And you said?"

Tom Kane
"Something I cant say on TV."

Tom tried once more.

Tom Kane
"And with that she said I’m so sorry, I can no longer help you and that was the end of our phone conversation."

So here's Tom, renovation underway, you can’t even recognize the kitchen, the stove is in the dining room and his loan is stalled because the bank insists he owes $5,000 on two houses he never owned.

Tom Kane
"My wife said, ‘hey I’ve got a great idea call 'Help Me Hank'.’"

So we tried the Hampden County Registry and finally they faxed us the two tax liens. Turns out, we found, one was for a different Tom Kane, the other for a completely different name!

We called the credit bureau and they admitted there was some sort of clerical error.

Tom Kane
"And within two days it was cleared up."

Now loan in hand and renovations progressing, the Kanes are looking forward to some elbow room and the only weird thing is that stove in the dining room.

Tom says he'll now keep closer tabs on his credit report and that's easy to do.

Additional Information:

Mass law says each person is allowed a free copy every year! For more information click here for
Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs: http://www.state.ma.us/consumer/  
And click on "Credit and Debt"

These are the three Major Credit Reporting Bureaus:
(You'll want to request information from all three bureaus because the information they have about you can vary. MA residents are entitled to one free copy from each of the three Bureaus per year.)

Experian
P.O. Box 2104
Allen, TX 75013-2104
(888) 397-3742
To Report Fraud:
(888) 397-3742
http://www.experian.com/

Trans Union
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022
(800) 888-4213
To Report Fraud:
(800) 680-7289
http://www.transunion.com/index.jsp

Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374
(800) 685-1111
To Report Fraud:
(800) 525-6285
http://www.equifax.com/

For more information on Federal Trade Commission rules about credit issues:
http://www.ftc.gov