Is my little bro a victim of identity theft?

[WNA888]

My little brother turned 18 a few days ago, and I told him I was going to take him to apply for a checking account and a credit card to begin building his credit.  Before I did any of that, I went to the annualcreditreport's website to pull his credit report and was unsuccessful because all 3 bureaus want his ID to verify his identity.  I thought this was very odd.  So I checked his credit score by going to lendingclub to get his rates, and the Adverse Action notice is below:

We also obtained your credit score from this consumer reporting agency and used it in making our credit decision. Your credit score is a number that reflects the information in your credit report. Your credit score can change, depending on how the information in your credit report changes.

Your credit score: 626

Date of Credit Report Pull: Thursday, Mar 6, 2014

Scores range from 300 to 850

Key factors that adversely affected your credit score:

1. Number of established accounts
2. Serious delinquency, and public record or collection filed
3. Level of delinquency on accounts
4. No recent bankcard balances

I am just wondering is it even possible for someone who just turns 18 to have a FICO score, yet a score of 626?  My brother has no idea what happen, and I believe him, because I don't think any creditor will extend credit to someone below 18.  Did someone steal his identity? It seems like it, but we are unable to view his credit reports online from any bureau, so we do not know how for certain.  Is something not right here? If not, how do we proceed?

[Leadberry]

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@WNA888 wrote:

My little brother turned 18 a few days ago, and I told him I was going to take him to apply for a checking account and a credit card to begin building his credit.  Before I did any of that, I went to the annualcreditreport's website to pull his credit report and was unsuccessful because all 3 bureaus want his ID to verify his identity.  I thought this was very odd.  So I checked his credit score by going to lendingclub to get his rates, and the Adverse Action notice is below:

We also obtained your credit score from this consumer reporting agency and used it in making our credit decision. Your credit score is a number that reflects the information in your credit report. Your credit score can change, depending on how the information in your credit report changes.

Your credit score: 626

Date of Credit Report Pull: Thursday, Mar 6, 2014

Scores range from 300 to 850

Key factors that adversely affected your credit score:

1. Number of established accounts
2. Serious delinquency, and public record or collection filed
3. Level of delinquency on accounts
4. No recent bankcard balances

I am just wondering is it even possible for someone who just turns 18 to have a FICO score, yet a score of 626?  My brother has no idea what happen, and I believe him, because I don't think any creditor will extend credit to someone below 18.  Did someone steal his identity? It seems like it, but we are unable to view his credit reports online from any bureau, so we do not know how for certain.  Is something not right here? If not, how do we proceed?

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It is possible that he was added as an AU on an account that went delinquent.  You need to order paper copies of his CR's to be certain of what is going on.

[bobebob]

Yikes, get a full CR ASAP.

If he doesn't have credit accounts of any kind, you shouldn't have been able to pull a score for him.

Given the multiple reasons for the bad score, I think it's unlikely that he is just an AU on a bad account that caused all this.

I would put my money on identity theft.

Since there are public records and/or collections involved, I would guess this happened years ago. That should make it easier to prove how young he was when the accounts were opened in his name.

Please post again and let us know what happened.

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@WNA888 wrote:

My little brother turned 18 a few days ago, and I told him I was going to take him to apply for a checking account and a credit card to begin building his credit.  Before I did any of that, I went to the annualcreditreport's website to pull his credit report and was unsuccessful because all 3 bureaus want his ID to verify his identity.  I thought this was very odd.  So I checked his credit score by going to lendingclub to get his rates, and the Adverse Action notice is below:

We also obtained your credit score from this consumer reporting agency and used it in making our credit decision. Your credit score is a number that reflects the information in your credit report. Your credit score can change, depending on how the information in your credit report changes.

Your credit score: 626

Date of Credit Report Pull: Thursday, Mar 6, 2014

Scores range from 300 to 850

Key factors that adversely affected your credit score:

1. Number of established accounts
2. Serious delinquency, and public record or collection filed
3. Level of delinquency on accounts
4. No recent bankcard balances

I am just wondering is it even possible for someone who just turns 18 to have a FICO score, yet a score of 626?  My brother has no idea what happen, and I believe him, because I don't think any creditor will extend credit to someone below 18.  Did someone steal his identity? It seems like it, but we are unable to view his credit reports online from any bureau, so we do not know how for certain.  Is something not right here? If not, how do we proceed?

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[WNA888]

I used the annualcreditreport phone number and was able to order all 3 bureaus CR using their automated system.  I will update this thread once the reports arrive and more information becomes available.  However, I have a feeling that I am probably not going to like what's on the CRs.

[WNA888]

After researching this issue, it appears like he's a victim of synthetic identity fraud.  The way it works is that if a "virgin" SSN is used to apply for credit, it initially gets denied because there's no profile for the person in any credit bureau.  However, this "denial" causes the bureau to create a "profile" of the synthetic person based on the name, address, DOB, SSN, etc provided to the CRA.  If the person applies for credit again with a creditor that doesn't have strict credit requirement, it will likely get approved.  This works because the CRAs do not have access to the social security administration database.    Oh well, this is going to be fun cleaning up my little brother good name.  This will be easy to prove based on his DOB and that contracts to people under 18 are null and void. :/

[bobebob]

I would make an attempt to find the perpetrator.  Many times it turns out to be someone in the family since they have physical proximity to the person's information.

It would be good to know or at least rule out.

[RobertEG]

I would advise using the FCRA identity theft process, discussed in detail in a sticky thread within the forum, to get immediate removal of any information that he can assert in a sworn police report is not his, and not related to any debt or accunt authorized by him.

That will get immediate blockage of any information asserted in that police report from his credit report, and he can also send a copy to any creditor and compel them to proivde all business records in their possession related to the identity theft information.

[mrgoattoo]

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@WNA888 wrote:

My little brother turned 18 a few days ago, and I told him I was going to take him to apply for a checking account and a credit card to begin building his credit.  Before I did any of that, I went to the annualcreditreport's website to pull his credit report and was unsuccessful because all 3 bureaus want his ID to verify his identity.  I thought this was very odd.  So I checked his credit score by going to lendingclub to get his rates, and the Adverse Action notice is below:

We also obtained your credit score from this consumer reporting agency and used it in making our credit decision. Your credit score is a number that reflects the information in your credit report. Your credit score can change, depending on how the information in your credit report changes.

Your credit score: 626

Date of Credit Report Pull: Thursday, Mar 6, 2014

Scores range from 300 to 850

Key factors that adversely affected your credit score:

1. Number of established accounts
2. Serious delinquency, and public record or collection filed
3. Level of delinquency on accounts
4. No recent bankcard balances

I am just wondering is it even possible for someone who just turns 18 to have a FICO score, yet a score of 626?  My brother has no idea what happen, and I believe him, because I don't think any creditor will extend credit to someone below 18.  Did someone steal his identity? It seems like it, but we are unable to view his credit reports online from any bureau, so we do not know how for certain.  Is something not right here? If not, how do we proceed?

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I cant begin to tell you how many of my family members have applied for credit in other family members names...even their own children...after butchering their credit.

One of the younger kids in our family just recently found out that a parent had used their name and info getting a bunch of crap on credit and now their rating is bad over something they had nothing to do with.

Im not saying this is the case, but after what Ive seen I dont put anything past anyone.

Ive warned my family very plainly....do this to me and I'll make sure you go to jail.

[mrgoattoo]

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@bobebob wrote:

 Many times it turns out to be someone in the family since they have physical proximity to the person's information.

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+1