Despite Report, "Deceased" Del. Woman Full Of Life
Mon, 15 Sep, 2008NEWPORT, Del. (AP) -- Irma Barr-Heibeck is alive -- she's just having a hard time convincing people.
She has a pulse, is breathing and seems to be fully capable of eating, drinking, walking and speaking. But the credit companies and banks keep sending her letters informing her she's dead.
"So far, I'm still dead. I can't get myself declared alive," she said. "It's a horrible feeling to be walking around, but clearly I'm not laying down for anybody."
Barr-Heibeck, 58, said the erroneous reports for the past eight months have been keeping her from opening new credit cards or changing her home equity loan. She has worked all her life, and said she's been adamant about keeping her credit score high -- it's now above 800.
The Newport woman has worked as a technical assistant at DuPont for 40 years. The widow with no children owns her own home and said she keeps up with her bills.
After learning of her newly departed status from Wachovia bank, Barr-Heibeck said she has unsuccessfully tried to get it corrected. She tracked down the source of the wrong report, the Chestnut Run Federal Credit Union.
Barr-Heibeck said she contacted the credit union, where she had closed her account more than six years before, and it was able to track down the bookkeeping error. Melda Faxton, the credit union's CEO, said she had never encountered an error such as this before, adding it was an accident.
Barr-Heibeck turned to the Internet and found postings in online forums and Web sites with other people who had gone through the same problem. Many, she said, reported that it took months to have their reports corrected.
The credit reporting company Equifax sent her a letter after she inquired about her credit report. The company is responsible for setting credit scores and reporting them to companies that issue cards.
Jennifer Costello, an Equifax spokeswoman, said people are occasionally moved into the deceased category by mistake but not often. She said it most commonly happens when a spouse dies and the couple are jointly listed on an account.
Costello, who said she couldn't discuss the specifics of an account because of privacy reasons, said only that Barr-Heibeck's account had been referred to a department that could remedy the problem and then send a letter to Barr-Heibeck notifying her of the correction.
Barr-Heibeck said she is anxiously awaiting mail bearing the news. She said her husband died several years ago and doesn't think that's related to her current problem.
"I'm walking around alive and they're telling me I'm dead. It gives you the weirdest feeling," she said.
Source: http://www.abc2news.com/
