> If there was a thumbprint on the paperwork and it was not Jamieson’s, it would be easy for him to prove as such. And, of course, it means anyone trying to get

> If there was a thumbprint on the paperwork and it was not Jamieson’s, it would be easy for him to prove as such. And, of course, it means anyone trying to get a loan in his name would have to give their own thumbprint. Would a fraudster, when confronted with a demand for a print, really provide it, given that it could be passed to the police? No, of course a fraudster would not provide his/her fingerprint. A fraudster would simply provide some other person's fingerprint--or one made up out of whole cloth. Further, a credit application "authenticated" with the wrong fingerprint still does not prevent the headache of cleaning up after the sloppy lender who was defrauded with your information. And after all, this is the primary harm consumers experience from so-called "identity theft". So, this idea only works properly if the fingerprint is taken directly from the credit applicant in person by a trusted agent: depending on the context, perhaps a cell phone store clerk, a loan officer, or a public notary. And if you're using a public notary, there is really no need for including fingerprints in the first place. > So what are the downsides? The biggest is that if there is a notice of correction on your credit file, a credit application has to be processed manually. That's probably the greatest security benefit. It should also make lenders much more cautious in general, and mitigate potential risk of stolen/leaked/hacked (digital images of) fingerprints being used to impersonate a person, assuming this idea becomes popular enough or that person is a juicy enough target for it to be worth fraudsters' while. However, one's fingerprints are still immutable, replicable, and trivial to obtain in targeted attacks. So we arrive yet again at the conclusion that it's a better idea simply to demand in-person verification by a trusted agent with suitable government-issued photo ID (passport, etc.).