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To the OP: If I were you, I would check your credit report IMMEDIATELY. I'm in the same boat as you, except I'm in my 40s. Most companies use Experian or Equ

• strathmeyer 13y ago
  Damn thinking about living under such a system makes me want to run off and live alone in the wood.
  • dclara 13y ago
    Using a non-common name heals all. We have too many David in the same office. It's appealing for people to remember so that it sounds nice. But it defeats the purpose for us to have a name. Name should make you unique.
    • egypturnash 13y ago
      He'll just pop back about eighteen years and ask his parents to pick a different one, then? Or spend a few hundred bucks, and a few days of hassle, to get it changed. Oh and plus ordering some new proofs of name change every now and then whenever he needs to submit a birth certificate to something. I'm sure he's got no sentimental attachment to his name either. I can't see your plan of "have a unique name" resulting in any problems for him. (I have changed my name for very different reason, I know precisely how much hassle it causes in the US.)
      • tommu 13y ago
        In choosing egypturnash you achieved your objective.
      • dclara 13y ago
        I went through the name changing process too, although not for myself. I don't mean he needs to change his name to avoid this type of problem. But I raised a common problem for people to concern, especially for the next generation. Our culture is encouraging more and more fast food and simple, short thinking. I don't quite value that value, especially from developer's point of view. As you can see, how complicated processes are involved in VLSI chip design and circuit design in iPhone. If people applied the same culture or manner or habit, we would not have those great products. His problem is a dilemma because financial systems have to be that strict. There are just two many duplicated names even in one location. But I agree that simple name are more welcomed in the real life. So maybe our financial systems should be adjusted to use more field to uniquely identify a person.
        • kevinchen 13y ago
          What does the complexity of PCB design have to do with improving customer service?
          • dclara 13y ago
            I'm seeing things on both sides. They have bad customer service due to some reasons such as operational cost. But it's necessary for their business to disqualified you and they have the right to reject serving you since the service is free on your clients side. Please don't take it for granted that you must be served. That's why I suggest them if they cannot afford the customer support like other decent online financial systems, they may verify on large transactions only so that they may still get the chance to serve customers with small or medium transactions, while large transaction itself can cover the service cost. On the other hand, did you see there is another post directly suggesting you to have your name changed with a middle initial. Don't think you are always 100% perfect and it's all other people's fault. This is another caveat in culture for the new generation. When conflict occurs, check on yourself side first. I gave you advice because I wish this type of thing would not happen to you again. If you don't learn the lesson, you may have more similar type of experience down the road. Didn't you see the other people's story with his credit record? Do you think it's fun? You didn't get my point at all. Choosing simple name and always making job simple has the same culture background as fast food. I don't need to mention about the good or bad about it. Everybody can make his own choice. You may stick to your common name and have the other consequences. Other than you, yourself, who will care? iPhone is not made with regular PCB design techniques, it's not that easy. VLSI design is not PCB design. With this type of attitude, you are not qualified for any of those professional work until you are trained or change your attitude. This is my point. BTW, if you don't mind, can you please tell me how you down voted me? Is it done by complaining to the YC admin? I can have different opinion with you, but I'm helping you. I will not down vote you because I have different opinion with you. What a decent manner you have.
• kevinchen 13y ago
  Thanks for the heads up! I actually tried to check all three before writing this post. One has the correct info, but it looks like the other two agencies are a bit slower. I have to do those by fax.
  • aptwebapps 13y ago
    Did you try https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ ? Note: this the official website maintained by all three CRAs.
    • kevinchen 13y ago
      Yeah, the site couldn't find me for 2 of the 3 credit reporting companies.
• otterley 13y ago
  Regarding your libel question: The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) expressly pre-empted state defamation suits against credit reporting agencies. 15 U.S.C. 1681h(e). > [N]o consumer may bring any action or proceeding in the nature of defamation, invasion of privacy, or negligence with respect to the reporting of information against any consumer reporting agency ...
  • moultano 13y ago
    Ich. Did we get something in return out of that act or was it a coup? Do they have any legal obligation to get this stuff right?
    • kevinchen 13y ago
      Not a lawyer, but I think they are also required to have a process for disputing inaccuracies. Also, there is the free annual credit report law.
    • patio11 13y ago
      I have intimate personal experience with the FCRA. Sadly I don't have an hour to talk about it at the moment, but ping me any time. Short version: it's one of the most absurdly customer-friendly pieces of legislation in the US, assuming you know how to work it. There exist Internet communities where they basically do nothing but assist each other with using the FCRA to get legitimate debts removed from their credit report, which, when combined with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, means you can essentially unilaterally absolve yourself of many debts if the party currently owning it is not on the ball for compliance. The brief version, with the exact search queries you'll want bracketed: you send a [debt validation letter] under the FCRA to the CRAs. This starts a 30 day clock, during which time they have to get to the reporter and receive evidence from the reporter that you actually own the debt. If that clock expires, the CRAs must remove that tradeline from your report and never reinstate it. Roughly simultaneously with that letter, you send the collection agency a [FDCPA dispute letter], and allege specifically that you have "No recollection of the particulars of the debt" (this stops short of saying "It isn't mine"), request documentation of it, and -- this is the magic part -- remind them that the FDCPA means they have to stop collection activities until they've produced docs for you. Collection activities include responding to inquiries from the CRAs. If the CRA comes back to you with a "We validated the debt with the reporter." prior to you hearing from the reporter directly, you've got documentary evidence of a per-se violation of the FDCPA, which you can use to get the debt discharged and statutory damages (if you sue) or just threaten to do that in return for the reporter agreeing to tell the CRA to delete the tradeline. No response from the CRA? You watch your mail box like a hawk for the next 30 days. Odds are, you'll get nothing back from the reporter in that timeframe, because most debt collection agencies are poorly organized and can't find the original documentation for the debt in their files quickly enough. Many simply won't have original documentation -- they just have a CSV file from the original lender listing people and amounts. If you get nothing back from the reporter in 30 days, game over, you win. The CRA is now legally required to delete the tradeline and never put it back. Sometimes you have to send a few pieces of mail to get this to stick. You will probably follow-up on this with a second letter to the reporter, asserting the FDCPA right to not receive any communication from them which is inconvenient, and you'll tell them that all communication is inconvenient. (This letter is sometimes referred to as a [FOAD letter], for eff-off-and-die.) The reporter's only possible choices at that point are to abandon collection attempts entirely or sue you. If they sue you prior to sending validation, that was a very bad move, because that is a per-se FDCPA violation and means your debt will be voided. (That assumes you owe it in the first place. Lots of the people doing these mechanics actually did owe the debt at one point, but are betting that it can't be conveniently demonstrated that they owe the debt.) If the reporter sends a letter: "Uh, we have you in a CSV file." you wait patiently until day 31 then say "You've failed to produce documentary evidence of this debt under the FDCPA. Accordingly, you're barred from attempting to collect on it. If you dispute that this is how the FDCPA works, meet me in any court of competent jurisdiction because I have the certified mail return receipt from the letter I sent you and every judge in the United States can count to 30." and then you file that with the CRA alleging "This debt on my credit report is invalid." The CRA will get in touch with the debt collection company, have their attempt timeout, and nuke the trade line. You now still technically speaking owe money but you owe it to someone who can't collect on the debt, (licitly [+]) sell it, or report it against your credit. I just outlined the semi-abusive use of those two laws, but the perfectly legitimate use (for resolving situations like mine, where my credit report was alleging that I owed $X00,000 in debts dating to before I was born) is structurally similar. My dropbox still has 30 PDFs for letters I sent to the 3 CRAs, several banks, and a few debt collection companies disputing the information on my report and taking polite professional notice that there was an easy way out of this predicament for them but that if they weren't willing to play ball on that I was well aware of the mechanics of the hard way. [+] Owing more to disorganization and incompetence than malice, many debt collection companies will in fact sell debts which they're not longer legally entitled to. This happened to me twice. I sent out two "intent to sue" letters and they fixed the problem within a week. [Edit: I last did this in 2006 and my recollection on some of the steps I took was faulty, so I've corrected them above and made it a little more flow-charty.]
• ajre 13y ago
  Amazing that companies maintaining credit histories are relying on a person's name to map financial data to a 'person'. Don't we have unique identifiers call Social Security Numbers?
  • lambda 13y ago
    No, Social Security Numbers are not unique. Furthermore, many sources of credit information do not have access to your social security number to use as a key. Your phone company, cable company, oil company, and so on all may need to send your bills to collections and put a mark on your credit report, but they don't have access to your social security number (they may ask for it, but you aren't required to provide it).
    • lkbm 13y ago
      There are cases of them being re-issued accidentally, but they're supposed to be unique, and we have massive data systems based on that premise. Texas has only just recently begun transitioning from using SSN as the primary key for their statewide student (and school staff) database.
  • cowsandmilk 13y ago
    when one credit agency merged me with another person, they put both our social security numbers on the credit report. I found it the weirdest thing in the world. They also combined our address records, so I had two different residences for my whole life, and residences for 15 years before I was born. These documents often lack in consistency.
  • orclev 13y ago
    Social security numbers are most emphatically not identification. The social security department tried for many years to get people to stop using your social as a form of identification, but companies (and sometimes even the government) still keep doing it. Social security cards printed before 1972 actually had a disclaimer printed on them that said "Not for identification purposes", but the message has since been removed. Although rare, there are actually duplicate social security numbers as well, and not everyone has a social security number. A number of religious groups, most notably some sects of Amish, refuse to get social security numbers and regularly fight legal cases to prevent having a social security number as a requirement for access to government services (although obviously not social security).
• aptwebapps 13y ago
  I checked my credit history for the first time last year and discovered something similar with all three agencies. One of the bank accounts belonging to the other individual was actually older than me! I went through the online process with each agency and got it corrected. It took a little time but wasn't that hard. Don't have the exact link but if you poke around Experian's site you should find it pretty easily.