Unable to answer identity verification questions to create mySocialSecuirty account

[Shadowfactor]

I was having this issue with EQ roughly around 14 months ago.

Bogus questions that didn’t apply to me and it would lock me out. Ordered all my CR’s , LexisNexus and the other smaller bureaus. Never could figure out what was causing it but it hasn’t happened lately.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yes on that last point for sure. I’ve been complaining about HIPAA no longer applying for years now. The only thing is serves to do these days is make it harder for us to take control of our health records while everyone else has them. Like if you get a DNA test? Your insurance company can use that against you. 

But the site has infuriated me so much with the Healthsafe ID issues that next time I can’t get in, I’m switching plans. 

I guess my goal for 2019 will be to get ahold of all of the third party bureaus and fix any incorrect info they have for me... should be able to get that done by January 1st, 2020...

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It took me two years and staying on the various agencies like the "dog that bit the mail person" ... did not let go, did not accept "NO" and finally it all got cleaned up. Too many information gathers exploiting whomever "garbage" (EWS is an example).

[Save-n-Invest]

I'm laughing remembeing some of the security questions the first time I encountered this. One question was the dealership where I purchased a new car the prior year. I didn't buy a car that year so I answered none of the obove. The next question required me to identify the leinholder for the imaginary car. I went with none of the above.

I only had to visit a USPS location to do an in person ID verification. It's entertaining now but this type of verification has the potential to become a significant problem. 

[ThomasJNewton]

Glad I found this thread. Been having problems with Equifax for a long time (3 or 4 years). Always get 4 questions that are none of the above and then get denied. I finally escalated enough with a supervisor in their phone contact center that they sent me a paper letter explaining how I need to verify myself using two addresses, one of which they have determined is my “current address”:

I need to send them either:

• copy of my Social Security Card (after a great deal of work last year, I finally got a copy).
• a paystub with my SSN on it.
• a copy of my W2

and:

• a copy of my driver’s license (does not have either of the two addresses they consider to be “mine” on it)
• a mortgage, lease or deed (one of the two properties is owned outright by a trust, the other is rented to a friend of mine where I stay on occasion when I consult in his state)
• copy of a utility bill (gas, water, electricity, residential phone bill) - none of which are in my name (as they are not my addresses), and even at my (nominally) primary they are not in my name as the house belongs to my dad and all the untilities are in his name (I travel a lot and don’t really have a permanent address, so I use his address for things like IRS mail).

I can certainly fake a lease for either of the properties, but it seems absurd that, given they mailed me the letter, they do not simply give me the option of sending back a copy of their letter (with some special code), and a copy of a government issued ID (like a U.S. Passport, Military ID, Nexus Card, TSA Trusted Traveler ID), etc. as proof that I get mail there.

Curious if anyone has a suggestion for a better approach than a fake lease to get Equifax to accept that I am me.

To try to improve this for the future, I have requested copies of my ChexSystems, LexisNexis, and Innovis reports online, I am about to fill out the form for Early Warning to submit via email and will call for my Teletrack report tomorrow. Are they any other agencies from whom I need to request reports?

[Save-n-Invest]

Equifax has appended a new last name to mine. They have me as my correct first name, my crrect last name as a middle name and another name as the last name. I learned this when I was finally able to speak with a human to freeze my credit after the Equifax breach. The rep told me "we have you as this name so use this name when you call us". 

My Equifax credit report has question marks all over it for accouts reported to Equifax. I have not attempted to correct. Equifax plays a little to fast and lose with sensitive personal info for my tastes. I hesitate to provide them with more info. Equifax did have my correct name until the breach. 

[DaveInAZ]

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@iv wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I called Social Security tech support and was told that the questions came from Equifax.

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While they were correct that SSA (and the IRS) do use Equifax for identity verification... that doesn't mean what you might assume.

They have a contract with Equifax, the company.  That does not mean that the verified data is limited to information on your "normal" Equifax credit report, just that Equifax is the sub-contractor for the verification services.

They do pull from other sources, including other Equifax databases, third-party databases, and public records.

I had a verification question last year about "someone I previously lived with", and none of the names were even close... but... I happened to recognize one of them as the spouse of someone I had sold a condo to four years ago.  The public records search associated my name with the address, and the spouse of the buyer with the address, in the same calendar year, and thus linked us for the ID question.

...and since I answered "correctly" (IE: picked their name, rather than "failing" the question), there's now an additional record out there that I've "confirmed" the connection.

...sigh.

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Very good point about Equifax being the subcontractor for identity verification, that doesn't mean any identity questions are limited to what's on your EQ report.

And that question about "someone you lived with" shows the limitation of relying on computers to link public information and assemble that info into a reliable, properly worded question for verifying your identity. Yes, the info connects you and the buyer's spouse to the same address in the same year, but that hardly means that you "lived together", the buyer might have something to say about that. I would have likely failed that question, it wouldn't have occurred to me that the spouse of someone I sold a property to years ago could be considered as someone I "lived with".

[ThomasJNewton]

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@Shadowfactor wrote:
I was having this issue with EQ roughly around 14 months ago.

Bogus questions that didn’t apply to me and it would lock me out. Ordered all my CR’s , LexisNexus and the other smaller bureaus. Never could figure out what was causing it but it hasn’t happened lately.

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I received my reports from LexisNexis, ChexSystems, Innovis, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax (via CreditKarma). I have 3 sets of the questions from EQ, all of which had all four answers as “None of the Above” and cannot find any of the referenced items, so I cannot figure out what is generating them.