regarding male or female on credit card

[ThriftySaver]

I have a friend who is transgender but has a female name everytime he calls the credit card company they always ask a lot of security questions, can't credit card companies tell if a person is male or female on crdit report?

[Closingracer99]

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@ThriftySaver wrote:

I have a friend who is transgender but has a female name everytime he calls the credit card company they always ask a lot of security questions, can't credit card companies tell if a person is male or female on crdit report?

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IDK how transgenders work but I would assume they would still have the same social security number. I would think they can tell with the social security number his "Gender" based on prior history? 

[SunriseEarth]

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@ThriftySaver wrote:

I have a friend who is transgender but has a female name everytime he calls the credit card company they always ask a lot of security questions, can't credit card companies tell if a person is male or female on crdit report?

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The FICO model was designed to make things as data- and number-based as possible, so specific information that would identify gender or other protected classes is not included.   This is to ensure that applicants are judged strictly on credit worthiness and to help eliminate bias.  On manual review, assumptions might be drawn from names that are traditionally gender-specific, but that certainly is not a definitive indicator of gender expression or identity.

Generally, any change to personal information from address changes to name changes can cause security issues on credit.   Apps will often ask about former names for this very reason.   

[ThriftySaver]

so you are saying basically the financial institutions have no way of judging by gender but instead by the name of the person? 

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't say it's impossible to find gender as on public records or if you voluntarily provided it (i.e. on a mortgage app) but for purposes of a frontline CSR and the credit report/FICO data, no its not there. Has your friend ever gone by another name? Maybe two first names are reporting on CR which could throw up red flags.

[Anonymous]

Also, what does your friend sound like on the phone? If I were a CSR and got a call from "Samantha" and it sounded like a male voice, I'd ask questions just to ensure that the caller is indeed who they say they are, and not identity theft or fraud.

[takeshi74]

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@ThriftySaver wrote:

I have a friend who is transgender but has a female name everytime he calls the credit card company they always ask a lot of security questions, can't credit card companies tell if a person is male or female on crdit report?

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Are you pulling and reviewing your own reports on a regular basis?  I don't recall ever seeing gender on my reports.

[dragontears]

My understanding is information such as gender, race and religion is not on any credit report due to anti discrimination laws

[noobody]

I read somewhere, voice print has been implemented by major banks to make sure you are who you said you are.
those "your call has been record" warning are not just for training purpose only.

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Also, what does your friend sound like on the phone? If I were a CSR and got a call from "Samantha" and it sounded like a male voice, I'd ask questions just to ensure that the caller is indeed who they say they are, and not identity theft or fraud.

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+1

Over the years I've worked at places who did credit checks, and there was never a gender indicator anywhere on the report.

This being said, I'll agree with jb002; if we were on the phone with someone who sounded male and the name they reported/on the account was 'Jill' we would definitely dig deeper. 

The last thing we wanted to happen was for an ex-spouse, who knew all the security questions, to make unauthorized changes to an account. (This is actually a real 'thing')