The careless errors of credit reporting agencies • Hacker News Board

Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies

#21

Post by halviti » Sun, Sep 11, 2016, 4:54 PM UTC

orangecat wrote: post #9

kartan wrote: post #3

How much is this connected to not having a real id card? For me is always weird when you see things like "no flight lists" and it is just a list of names. In Spain or Sweden your ID will be listed and the rest of people named like you spared of being harassed. Another concept that I don't understand is that USA's social security number has to be kept secret or otherwise your identity can be stolen. How that is even p…

Another concept that I don't understand is that USA's social security number has to be kept secret or otherwise your identity can be stolen. How that is even possible? Doesn't your employer needs it? Yes, as well as utilities, banks, insurers, hospitals, etc, etc. Treating the SSN as a password is idiotic, to the point where I almost wish Anonymous or someone would publish every American's number so that we'd be forc…

If you were born before 1989, your SSN can be guessed with 44% accuracy by an algorithm.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2009/07/social-security-numbe...

Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies

#22

Post by 13of40 » Sun, Sep 11, 2016, 4:54 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #7

kartan wrote: post #3

How much is this connected to not having a real id card? For me is always weird when you see things like "no flight lists" and it is just a list of names. In Spain or Sweden your ID will be listed and the rest of people named like you spared of being harassed. Another concept that I don't understand is that USA's social security number has to be kept secret or otherwise your identity can be stolen. How that is even p…

>> How much is this connected to not having a real id card? Each state has it's own Drivers License and usually a very similar card that is simply for ID. Many places such as banks or cell phone companies will request your drivers license or ID # in addition to your Social Security # to open an account.

I have driver's license numbers from three different states. My kid has none. There's no 1:1 relationship between state issued IDs and people.

Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies

#23

Post by edoceo » Sun, Sep 11, 2016, 4:55 PM UTC

codegeek wrote: post #17

Some steps to monitor your credit (USA): 1. Signup for https://www.creditkarma.com . Yes, you can argue about giving your credentials to a 3rd party company and they show you ads but credit karma sends me real time activity on my credit report FOR FREE. I get offers etc but I am happy since I can keep an eye on my credit report from all agencies. (except Experian who want you to pay them for report). 2. Get a free cr…

#2 doesn't work. That site is super buggy and the Experian connection hasn't worked for 4+ years.

Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies

#24

Post by maxerickson » Sun, Sep 11, 2016, 4:56 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #4

The credit reporting system probably wouldn't work if you had to have the account holder's 'permission' to add events to it - you have to do it in this automated way. Although it can be a pain, the responsibility of if your credit report is accurate falls on you, the consumer. You should many of the free services to check your credit and then dispute any events that aren't correct. Most people don't have issues but y…

Onus or burden would be a better word there than responsibility. They are largely synonyms, but the difference in tone is useful.

I mean, I don't actually owe it to a bank to ensure that some other party has accurate information about me.

Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies

#25

Post by loeg » Sun, Sep 11, 2016, 4:57 PM UTC

codegeek wrote: post #17

Some steps to monitor your credit (USA): 1. Signup for https://www.creditkarma.com . Yes, you can argue about giving your credentials to a 3rd party company and they show you ads but credit karma sends me real time activity on my credit report FOR FREE. I get offers etc but I am happy since I can keep an eye on my credit report from all agencies. (except Experian who want you to pay them for report). 2. Get a free cr…

> 3. Get your FICO score from discover [0] for free OR Open a credit card with Citi cards [1] and I think for $95/Year fee, they give you free FICO score which is the score that majority of lenders use. There are many other companies that offer FICO score for a fee but this was a good way for me since I needed that type of card anyway.

As well as Discover, Barclays and USAA credit cards both offer (one of) your credit scores without paying an annual fee.

Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies

#26

Post by loeg » Sun, Sep 11, 2016, 4:57 PM UTC

edoceo wrote: post #23

codegeek wrote: post #17

Some steps to monitor your credit (USA): 1. Signup for https://www.creditkarma.com . Yes, you can argue about giving your credentials to a 3rd party company and they show you ads but credit karma sends me real time activity on my credit report FOR FREE. I get offers etc but I am happy since I can keep an eye on my credit report from all agencies. (except Experian who want you to pay them for report). 2. Get a free cr…

#2 doesn't work. That site is super buggy and the Experian connection hasn't worked for 4+ years.

I have also never had much luck with the annual report site.

Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies

#27

Post by GirlsCanCode » Sun, Sep 11, 2016, 4:57 PM UTC

They need to be held criminally and civilly liable for promoting lies about a specific person with the specific intent to cause harm to that person.

There's a similar problem with Google. I have the same name (and it's not that common) and same age as a disbarred attorney in Arizona.

I always wonder how many times a new contact, or potential business partner, googles my name, finds the disbarred lawyer who was prosecuted for tax evasion, and decides not to do business with me. This wouldn't be a case of mis-information, but just of sloppy research.

Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies

#28

Post by GirlsCanCode » Sun, Sep 11, 2016, 4:59 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #4

The credit reporting system probably wouldn't work if you had to have the account holder's 'permission' to add events to it - you have to do it in this automated way. Although it can be a pain, the responsibility of if your credit report is accurate falls on you, the consumer. You should many of the free services to check your credit and then dispute any events that aren't correct. Most people don't have issues but y…

Actually, there's only one legitimate free service that was mandated by a settlement with the Government. The rest have confusingly similar names that all try to scam you. (Shamefully, the government didn't provide for a .gov domain for the legitimate access to the free service.)

Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies

#29

Post by ourmandave » Sun, Sep 11, 2016, 4:59 PM UTC

kartan wrote: post #3

How much is this connected to not having a real id card? For me is always weird when you see things like "no flight lists" and it is just a list of names. In Spain or Sweden your ID will be listed and the rest of people named like you spared of being harassed. Another concept that I don't understand is that USA's social security number has to be kept secret or otherwise your identity can be stolen. How that is even p…

So how does a real ID work?

Here, places verify you over the phone by the last 4 digits of your social security number, so you have to keep it secret.

If I'm evil and know your ID what can I get away with without a card? And what can I do with a decent fake card?

Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies

#30

Post by loeg » Sun, Sep 11, 2016, 5:00 PM UTC

kartan wrote: post #3

How much is this connected to not having a real id card? For me is always weird when you see things like "no flight lists" and it is just a list of names. In Spain or Sweden your ID will be listed and the rest of people named like you spared of being harassed. Another concept that I don't understand is that USA's social security number has to be kept secret or otherwise your identity can be stolen. How that is even p…

> How much is this connected to not having a real id card?

Social security number is sort of that. But various businesses keep accepting it blindly from fraudsters ("identity thieves"). So for now it remains semi-private because it is overused for authentication.

> Another concept that I don't understand is that USA's social security number has to be kept secret or otherwise your identity can be stolen. How that is even possible? Doesn't your employer needs it?

The trouble is really that it is accepted as a an authentication credential in many places, even though it is just a not-very-random unique number.