SSN Trace Report (potential identity theft)

[Anonymous]

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I've been having a problem with applying for credit/loan approval and even setting up utilities for my house due to potential identity theft. I'm not sure if it's actually identity theft though. My actual credit report has no discrepancies at all but I ran the SSN trace report on Experian and it returned multiple addresses and names that aren't mine. When I applied for utilities for my house the person working provided me with the name of the person that came back when they ran my credit under my social. It was the same name on the trace report. I don't know what to do to fix this problem because it's nowhere on my actual credit report on any of the 3 bureaus. If anyone has any tips on what to do so that I can apply for a loan for a house and not keep getting denied that would be great! Thank you in advance. 

[K-in-Boston]

Welcome to the forums.  If your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion accounts are all correct and clean you are in the clear unless a lender or potential lender also pulls information from one of the many lesser-known consumer reporting companies.  Generally utilities, payday loans, late rent payments or defaulting on a lease, etc. are not reported to the 3 major credit reporting agencies.  This sounds exactly like the type of information that would be pulled from a company such as SageStream or LexisNexis.

I would start by getting reports and filing disputes for incorrect information from all applicable companies listed here:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/credit-reports-and-scores/consumer-reporting-companie...

[Remedios]

If anyone obtained product or service while using your social security number, it is identity theft, however, I'm unclear as to how they would use your ss number, but their name. If utility company did a SP, they would have noticed discrepancy.  

If someone did use your ss number, once they default, it does end up on CR. Those type of companies typically do not report positive payment history for the most part, but negatives are reported. 

Additionally, most of utility places, cell phone providers etc, will forward those accounts for collection, so there will be a double whammy at some point. 

If anyone is applying for anything under your name, it's identity theft. 

You need to file police report so that once they do not pay, CRA can place blocks on fraudulent accounts. 

Additionally,  you would want to freeze all three major CRAs before anyone obtains credit in your name in addition to utilities. 

You also want to pull all three Free Annual Credit reports and see if there are any soft pulls from utility companies present. 

If there are, in addition to filing police report, you would want to contact those companies and explain the situation to them. 

If this was just EQ, I'd consider the possibility of mixed file, but not if EX is involved, too. 

Grab copies of annual credit report and go from there. 

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

I would put all the bureaus on ice, then file the police report, then put a fraud alert on the bureaus. That way, if anything does happen, you were proactive instead of reactive and having to clean up spilled milk.

[coldfusion]

IMO there are a few steps you should do right away.

a) If you haven't frozen your credit reports, freeze them now. Do NOT lock them, freeze them. 

b) If you haven't yet filed a report with your local police regarding suspected fraud, file a report.

c) If you haven't submitted an Information Supression request to LexisNexis, do so after you have filed the police report.   The police report will yield credence to your claim of identity fraud.  

You'll also want to get a copy of your LexisNexis consumer report so you can weed through it and clean it out, but first focus on the supression request.  

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for the valuable feedback. I've reached out to all of the 3 bureaus and sent them documents to verify my identity and put freezes on them. I also spoke to SSA and they said my name is the only name associated with my SSN. Also when I'm denied approval for a loan the reasoning is "unable to verify applicants identity." 

When I first ran the SSN trace report back in April of this year it provided me with the same aliases and addresses that were on the most recent trace report that I ran two days ago. I'm only assuming it would still negatively effect me if I try to run my credit again even though there's no way to know it's all cleared until I apply for something 

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you all for the valuable feedback. I've reached out to all of the 3 bureaus and sent them documents to verify my identity and put freezes on them. I also spoke to SSA and they said my name is the only name associated with my SSN. Also when I'm denied approval for a loan the reasoning is "unable to verify applicants identity." 

When I first ran the SSN trace report back in April of this year it provided me with the same aliases and addresses that were on the most recent trace report that I ran two days ago. I'm only assuming it would still negatively effect me if I try to run my credit again even though there's no way to know it's all cleared until I apply for something 

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Keep in mind that SSN trace reports use data accumulated through 3rd parties, not datasets replicated from SSA data.  If someone for example either deliberately or accidentially gave incorrect information or miskeyed a data entry that would account for a discrepancy.

The obvious concern is that without knowing the reason for or the cause of the discrepancy you have no way of knowing intent.  It's in your best interest to assume the worst and work back from there to get this straightened out.