# Weird Credit Check/Identity Check Question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 16, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937 "2006-08-16T12:49:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/1 "2006-08-16T12:49:38Z")
So, over the weekend my husband bought an expensive piece of equipment for his hobby. One of the reasons he chose then to do so was the “One year no payment same as cash” offer from the retailer. So, he had to apply for credit on the spot to get the deal - we all know the drill. Fine. For whatever reason, they made him get on the phone with some guy who asked him some questions to establish identity; it’s not something I’ve experienced before but it’s a good idea. The first one was "What is the county for [address of first apartment that he lived in 12 years ago]? That’s not so weird. The next one, however, was a little disturbing. It was, “What is the approximate age of “Patricia Smith”?” “Patricia Smith” is my husband’s brother’s wife; “Smith” is her maiden name. First of all, I have to say I’m kind of glad that hubby was quick on his feet. We know her as “Trish Jones” and I really don’t know if he’s ever considered her as “Patricia”. I could go on and on about how we really don’t know her very well, etc. but the real point is how are they making the connection that this person is known to my husband? Isn’t ths weird? ---
**Author:** ![Electrical\_Storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@Electrical\_Storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electrical_Storm)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/2 "2006-08-16T13:48:46Z")
That’s pretty strange, all right. I thought when your credit got pulled they could only pull YOUR credit, and that of your spouse/co-signer if they’re to be on the application. How would they have connected her to your husband? Odd. Is there any remote possibility your husband’s brother was on a loan or credit card with him at some point in the past, and maybe she got pulled in as spouse or co-signer somehow? That’s about all I can think of, but yeah, that’s weird. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/3 "2006-08-16T14:01:45Z")
My husband had something like this - but more sensible - last week when he called his credit card company. They asked him three or four multiple-choice questions; I know that one asked about a previous (apartment) address, and one asked which car he had owned. He said that the person he spoke to said the questions were associated with his credit history. My wild guess, like the previous poster, would be that somehow he’s linked vaguely to some kind of joint account for his brother and wife. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/4 "2006-08-16T15:04:32Z")
My husband and his brother had a joint account for some reason back in the 80’s. I am quite sure he’s had no such arrangement since this marriage; this was many years before either brother was married and, for the brother, there’s been a spouse in between that account and this wife. It’s really bizarre. I’m kind of thinking that somehow they’ve got some sort of joint credit history going on by accident or something. It’s possible that they have similar SS #'s if they applied for cards the same day. That’s how it is with my siblings. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/5 "2006-08-16T16:44:46Z")
[QUOTE=Caricci] I could go on and on about how we really don’t know her very well, etc. but the real point is how are they making the connection that this person is known to my husband? Isn’t ths weird? [/QUOTE] Lexis/Nexis. It shows a list of “potential relatives” (and pretty well all prior addresses). I have access to it, and so do many Banks, Credit grantors and the like. A “Husband’s Brother’s Wife” could be listed. There’s a \*lot \* of stuff on your L/N profile- not all of it is correct and it’s often outdated. L/N also shows potential neighbors. This is why you sometimes get a weird phone call asking if “name of neighbor” is there. 😕 It’s a Collection agency and they are hoping you’ll help them harrass your neighbor in paying up. They don’t SAY that of course- they are hoping you’ll say “No, but she lives next door, can I take a message” and they’ll give you their Collection agency number (but they aren’t supposed to say it’s a Collection co, and they usually won’t), hoping that if you give that number to your neighbor it’ll help shame them into paying up. Damn fucking Collection agencies. :mad: Sometimes it’s because they just don’t have the correct number and they are hoping you’ll give it to them. That is perfectly legal, but a bit underhanded. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/6 "2006-08-16T16:48:52Z")
I had one like this when I got my car last year. IIRC they asked three or four questions, and one was a trick question, eg, they asked me about some place I’d never lived. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/7 "2006-08-16T17:31:27Z")
Thank you, **DrDeth.** I feel much better about the whole thing! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/8 "2006-08-16T17:38:52Z")
[QUOTE=Caricci] Thank you, **DrDeth.** I feel much better about the whole thing! [/QUOTE] No problem. Great thing about the SDMB, there’s almost always an expert to answer even the most wierd question. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/9 "2006-08-16T17:39:06Z")
I’m not sure if I could generate a county I previously lived in. Some parts of the country are bigger on counties than others. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/10 "2006-08-17T01:45:50Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] I’m not sure if I could generate a county I previously lived in. Some parts of the country are bigger on counties than others. [/QUOTE] Actually that’s true where I live. I’ve lived in my house 7 1/2 years and I’m not 100% sure of my county. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/11 "2006-08-17T07:00:13Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] I had one like this when I got my car last year. IIRC they asked three or four questions, and one was a trick question, eg, they asked me about some place I’d never lived. [/QUOTE] Same here. It was a bunch of questions to confirm that a credit card could be activated for the purpose of making a purchase. (I was buying a computer monitor, which probably raised some red flags.) They’re probably hoping that some imitator won’t realize that I had never lived there, and they’d say, “Yes, yes, yes, yes…” and agree to the bad address. ---
**Author:** ![tashabot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tashabot/32/6250_2.png) [@tashabot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tashabot)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/12 "2006-08-17T17:26:17Z")
You know, I had something similar to me happen a year or so ago. I was living with my parents, my boyfriend, and my sister - so we had five people in the house, all of legal age. I was applying for a credit card online and to verify my identity they asked me to answer a few questions - such as the approximate age of my mother, where my boyfriend had lived previously (the zip code question mentioned in the OP, I think), and when my father had graduated from high school (he didn’t, he got his GED and went into nursing school). It freaked me out, though, that by using my social security number they could tell HOW MANY PEOPLE lived in my house, and all of this personal shit about them and myself. It freaked me out a lot. Hence, me not having any credit cards anymore. 😃 ~Tasha ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/13 "2006-08-17T18:12:31Z")
Same here too. I bought a big screen TV. Two were pretty pedestrian, the one that threw me was “what is my wife’s mother’s maiden name?” ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/14 "2006-08-17T18:23:16Z")
[QUOTE=Stuffy] Same here too. I bought a big screen TV. Two were pretty pedestrian, the one that threw me was “what is my wife’s mother’s maiden name?” [/QUOTE] I think that one would have totally thrown my husband. She goes by her maiden name and I’m not entirely sure he gets that. And how weird that the credit people would have a guy’s wife’s mother’s maiden name. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-credit-check-identity-check-question/368937/15 "2006-08-17T19:20:06Z")
Plus I take “mother’s maiden name” to mean “code word” so I use something other than my mother’s actual maiden name.