# ... but I didn't buy a Highlander...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-didnt-buy-a-highlander/843429>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 14, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-didnt-buy-a-highlander/843429 "2019-11-14T17:03:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-didnt-buy-a-highlander/843429/21 "2019-11-15T16:24:29Z")

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> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> I got calls back in the early 80s from creditors for a neighbor based on living in the same apartment building, the address was something like 18425 Random Street and 18425 Random Street Rear [I was in an old carriage house, the apartments were in the house and had letters] so they did some kind of white pages look up for the same address, but the jackass had gotten the loan without the absolutely correct address, either they left the letter off or the form they filled out didn’t have enough space [?] SO I got calls for about a month demanding to speak with this guy and they didn’t believe that we didn’t live together … so I simply cancelled my phone service.

It’s not a sure thing, but likely, that you and the other party have now been associated in some database, or will be. Creditors/debt collectors are the most likely to make tenuous associations, the least likely to care, and the law doesn’t force them to be accurate. It would be a good idea to monitor your credit report periodically (it always is), and this connection might show up years later, when you’ve forgotten the details.

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**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-didnt-buy-a-highlander/843429/22 "2019-11-15T21:40:09Z")

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> [@Musicat](#):
>
> It’s not a sure thing, but likely, that you and the other party have now been associated in some database, or will be. Creditors/debt collectors are the most likely to make tenuous associations, the least likely to care, and the law doesn’t force them to be accurate. It would be a good idea to monitor your credit report periodically (it always is), and this connection might show up years later, when you’ve forgotten the details.

Not overly worried, no credit cards, no car loans, no mortgage. I do a ritual check on the big 3 credit companies once a year and the results are pretty boring.

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**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-didnt-buy-a-highlander/843429/23 "2019-11-16T05:37:55Z")

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> [@Dallas\_Jones](#):
>
> My address is all lower case and apparently some distant relative in Missouri had one all upper case. I don’t know why gmail accepted it but it did. I don’t understand the email protocol but apparently upper/lower cases are sometimes ignored because I get some of her email.

Email address account names _can_ be case sensitive, but to reduce confusion, nearly all email providers make their account names case-insensitive, so JSmith and jsmith are the same account.

Gmail goes even further, and does things like ignoring periods (j.smith and jsmith are the same account) or anything after a plus sign (jsmith+1 is jsmith).

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