Credit History

[Carolyn Marie]

I ordered my credit history from Equifax and Experian today, which was the first time since I transitioned and changed my name. It should not have come as a surprise, but near the end of the reports my personal information showed that I was "formerly known as" him.

Not a huge deal for me, but its good to be aware that when you apply for a loan, credit card, buy a car or a house, or rent an apartment, you may be unwittingly outing yourself. Just one of those things you can't escape in this world filled with data and personal information.

HUGS

Carolyn Marie

[Guest (Lightsider)]

That is the problem with the electronic age that you can not escape the past. In a way I find it criminal to force that on some one. I find it even more criminal that personal information can be found on the internet with ease and they wonder why there is identity theft. I was able to find my male alias online line in about 30 minutes of digging and it was linked to the new me. Really ticks me off.

[Guest amanda_s]

thanks for sharing can't it be removed as it not really relavant

Amanda

[Guest ValerieD]

I don't see why they even have it there. As long as they have all the credit history, what difference does it make? Society seems to love creating excuses to discriminate.

[Guest Melissa~]

Hey quick question as I'm entering zounds of name changes at various companies... Do need to get a hold of the credit reporting agencies? or will they simply assimiluate my new name as all my cards are converted over?

[Guest Jenni_S]

Hey quick question as I'm entering zounds of name changes at various companies... Do need to get a hold of the credit reporting agencies? or will they simply assimiluate my new name as all my cards are converted over?

They catch on very quickly. Anything that uses your SSN, which is most of your credit, gets linked.

As for your former name (or names, for some), it's a fraud prevention thing. As much for you as anyone else, because someone could pick up your old name and start using it. Keep a sharp eye on your credit for a year or so.

[Guest DanD]

the creditors will change their info, the name change will be there, as its a part of your public record, at the courthouse.

when i did my name change i was told by the lawyer that i could request to have this court info sealed, (similar to an adoption or some medical cases) but i didnt bother, and i should have, as it created a problem for me finding anyone to rent to me.

and who knows, we can only guess about other things it did..

I was told again later by another attorney (i went to her to ask) if i could have the info sealed, so the name thing isnt on the record anymore, for all kind of these reasons you can imagine. I was told of course.

the other thing i didnt like abou it is, all the info you put into that file at the courthouse..your parents info, and places you lived and even your own info like SS numbers etc. any fool who walks in can have full access and the use of a copier machine there..seems like a dangerous idea for people like my family, too, not just me. and i dont need the whole world knowing my medical info thats in there too.

Ive mentioned this before at times, but maybe not so much in here..just seems like, when they make those guides like WPATH stuff, they dont bother to get the lawyers and politcians in on the act too.. which makes it harder. and they make those excuses..as if anyone would change their sex simply to run away from some outstanding debts somewhere or whatever?

the goal is to help you to transition, not to put you in "limbo-land" where youre neither male nor female, sort of neither, but yet somehow implying we're perverted somehow, which ticks me off to no end at times.

should be a simple thing:

youre exected to live "full time" as the "opposite sex"..ideally, so you can try it out, like a pair of new shoes, to see how it fits and looks and feels.. the goal of going Full-time, is NOT to have you live as an exposed "freak" with neither gender. althouh some might argue on that and say, its to prepare you for that kind of hardship. used to be, if you were someone who was very senstive, they'd count that agaisnt you, lest it all be too much for you when the bad times come.

anyway, I think it wouldn't be entirely worthless to simply write to the credit agencies and ask them to please remove that old name.. especially if the old name has no outstanding debts out there, or that all the ones you do owe money to are aware of your new name anyway, so the old is irrelevant, but a hardship.

being that it has nothing to do with your credit worthiness, it shouldnt be an issue to have it removed. what they do with that request is probably anyone's guess. of course, michelle simply lied, and told them the old name wasnt her, but she was very sick of it haunting her.. i dont think i wouldd resort to telling lies about it there.

I have been curious if mine is still on there, as it was over 10 years ago, so REALLY should be completely irrelevant and removed by now.. I haven't gotten around to checking it out yet. i think a good argument ofit being irrelevant after alt this time has passed. my name change was in 1996.

that's my 2 cents, and then some. keep the change.

--dan

[Guest Melissa~]

Hmm this is off topic but my lawyer specified I prepare a "bare-bones" petition, and thats precisely what I did, not one statement more than the legal requirement. The Judge was feeling a bit haried with his docket that day so statements during my time on the stand were quite brief too. Nothing to see in my court filing really. Mostly it's name in and name out.

[Guest AiAmAngel]

A lot of people don't seem to realize that credit histories contain relevant information about you from the past 7-10 years beginning the first time your credit is inquired upon by a creditor. To change your name, you need to seriously have your documents together and send a letter to your preferred credit bureau. Send it via registered mail and keep copies, etc. You can request to have your prior name changed and if you are in particularly good credit standing (720 and up people!) you can requests (and have a fair chance of getting) your old name removed and replaced with your current name. If you are denied, you are entitled to an explanation. If you feel you were wrongly denied, you can send a letter to the federal trade commission. You have the right to equal opportunity for credit and if your old name is exposing you to discrimination, you don't necessarily have to put up with it. However, the job of the credit company is to make absolutely positive you are not changing your name to avoid past creditors (which is highly illegal). None of this info is "official" to my knowledge; it isn't written anywhere. But, this is how I would handle this issue. If you're not up to the task of keeping detailed records of communication, it may be in your interest to add a short explanation to your credit history (you are legally entitled to add a short summary to it, to explain anything the report does not fully cover).

If you're fairly young, the best way to avoid problems like this is to:

1) Pay your bills ON TIME, ALWAYS.

2) Have your name change sealed to begin with.

3) Keep detailed records of all correspondence with creditors.

Double check me, please! I haven't filed for name change and won't be doing so for a while.

[Drea]

A lot of people don't seem to realize that credit histories contain relevant information about you from the past 7-10 years beginning the first time your credit is inquired upon by a creditor. To change your name, you need to seriously have your documents together and send a letter to your preferred credit bureau. Send it via registered mail and keep copies, etc. You can request to have your prior name changed and if you are in particularly good credit standing (720 and up people!) you can requests (and have a fair chance of getting) your old name removed and replaced with your current name. If you are denied, you are entitled to an explanation. If you feel you were wrongly denied, you can send a letter to the federal trade commission. You have the right to equal opportunity for credit and if your old name is exposing you to discrimination, you don't necessarily have to put up with it. However, the job of the credit company is to make absolutely positive you are not changing your name to avoid past creditors (which is highly illegal). None of this info is "official" to my knowledge; it isn't written anywhere. But, this is how I would handle this issue. If you're not up to the task of keeping detailed records of communication, it may be in your interest to add a short explanation to your credit history (you are legally entitled to add a short summary to it, to explain anything the report does not fully cover).

This doesn't make much sense. Credit bureaus get information from the creditors. One can dispute incorrect information, but if the information is what a creditor has, it goes in there. One could even get info removed one day and next day it is back because a creditor supplied the information. All names that credit has been taken out appears on the report.

[Guest chngnwnd]

Credit reporting agencies don't always catch on. Experian had me listed under my birth name for a year after the name change - I found out when i had to prove my identity to get cable TV installed.

Bobbi

[Carolyn Marie]

Credit reporting agencies don't always catch on. Experian had me listed under my birth name for a year after the name change - I found out when i had to prove my identity to get cable TV installed.

Bobbi

Bobbi, was that after you changed your name with Social Security? That seems to be the major link the credit bureaus use for their records. I shopped for a car for my son within 3-4 weeks after doing the paperwork with the SSA, and the car company had no problem or questions when they ran my credit report.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest AiAmAngel]

A lot of people don't seem to realize that credit histories contain relevant information about you from the past 7-10 years beginning the first time your credit is inquired upon by a creditor. To change your name, you need to seriously have your documents together and send a letter to your preferred credit bureau. Send it via registered mail and keep copies, etc. You can request to have your prior name changed and if you are in particularly good credit standing (720 and up people!) you can requests (and have a fair chance of getting) your old name removed and replaced with your current name. If you are denied, you are entitled to an explanation. If you feel you were wrongly denied, you can send a letter to the federal trade commission. You have the right to equal opportunity for credit and if your old name is exposing you to discrimination, you don't necessarily have to put up with it. However, the job of the credit company is to make absolutely positive you are not changing your name to avoid past creditors (which is highly illegal). None of this info is "official" to my knowledge; it isn't written anywhere. But, this is how I would handle this issue. If you're not up to the task of keeping detailed records of communication, it may be in your interest to add a short explanation to your credit history (you are legally entitled to add a short summary to it, to explain anything the report does not fully cover).

This doesn't make much sense. Credit bureaus get information from the creditors. One can dispute incorrect information, but if the information is what a creditor has, it goes in there. One could even get info removed one day and next day it is back because a creditor supplied the information. All names that credit has been taken out appears on the report.

I assumed credit cards and accounts would be the first places one would change their names? At least before going on to your credit report. But, again, I haven't done this and can't offer any anecdotal evidence.

[Guest DanD]

Hmm this is off topic but my lawyer specified I prepare a "bare-bones" petition, and thats precisely what I did, not one statement more than the legal requirement. The Judge was feeling a bit haried with his docket that day so statements during my time on the stand were quite brief too. Nothing to see in my court filing really. Mostly it's name in and name out.

hmm sounds simple, but neither of us had to answer any questions or anything, he just said oh next case is name change petition, bla bla bla , and he said and attorney..then he said are the attorney and petitoner present? and the lawyer stood up and said yes sir were present, and she had me stand up, and he looked at me, and then he stared scribbling and said at the same time, without delay, petition granted, and then he asked the attorney if she had included a prepared court order for him in the file, and she said yes, but the same time he discovered the paper in there, and he said oh i see it here, and he looked at it, and said, yes this will do. and thats all they said, then we had to go over to a table where a couple of clerks or whatever they were had the papers, and signed them and stamped them and stuff, and they said, to sign somewhere on something..and said they'd have it available for us the next day downstairs. pretty painless, (thank God for small favors!)

oh but the paperwork..they ask every single place youve lived in your life time and when, where you were born, who your mom and dad are, and a bit of their info, and a detailed reason why we're requesting the Name & Gender designation change thing.. which is where we said, basicly because so and so is undergoing gender reassignment under the supervision of my endo, and shrinks, and whatever., and that i am at the stage where they require me to have name and gender designation legally changed.

You can do the changes on various IDs etc in numerous ways, or in different order, chronologicaly, but I found it best to get copies of the court order, then take one with me (with my other ID stuff) to Social Security. Then they change it right there, then mail your new card to you. Then if memory serves, i did the Birth Certificate, and Welfare ID thing, and drivers license. the DL was a pain at first but it went through. I think I did the BC forms at the State Representative's office, because they do notary work for free, and they have the forms, and can help you fill them out and even mail them in for you, or put it in an envelope and put a stamp on it too, and you can mail it yourself. Ive found their office to be overy handy for anything with the State.

They're a good place to get the drivers license and owner card and things all sorted out right for you too.

I didnt change my name at the bank due to some advice michelle (an MTF freind of mine) told me to do that based on her experience.. we took the money out of my account, in the old name, and then later went to another bank with the new ID, and put it in with the new ID info. was probably unnecessary really, but, she told me she stayed at the same bank, and they kept on acting weird with her after her name change...as if bankers are stuffy? I dont know, but she changed to another bank where only the manager knew i guess, but they treated her decent at the newer bank. I dont know if i would advise people to do that or not, but if you suspect the people at your bank might make you uncomfortable somehow, then switch. Thats common sense though, dont need to have people act strange towards you like that.

[Sakura]

One thing that has been a real issues since my name change, has been getting turned down for credit because my Identity and credit report could not be Verified. even though i have been in contact with all the credit companies and they assure me everything is correct and accurate m yet the problem continues hell i can't even pull my own credit score as i get an email sent to me that they were unable to verify my identity * eye twitches* but if i call a place and verify it all right there * usually having to fax a copy of my ID to them * they will atleast approve or dnie based on good or bad credit and not some wierd glitch . i mention this as i am not the only one i have heard of this happening to, so just beware if one gets thier name changed of this potential complication.

[Guest Melissa~]

One thing that has been a real issues since my name change, has been getting turned down for credit because my Identity and credit report could not be Verified. even though i have been in contact with all the credit companies and they assure me everything is correct and accurate m yet the problem continues hell i can't even pull my own credit score as i get an email sent to me that they were unable to verify my identity * eye twitches* but if i call a place and verify it all right there * usually having to fax a copy of my ID to them * they will atleast approve or dnie based on good or bad credit and not some wierd glitch . i mention this as i am not the only one i have heard of this happening to, so just beware if one gets thier name changed of this potential complication.

Part of my interest is pulling a report from annualcreditreport.com was not accepted under my new name. I figure I'll try again in a month, then raise hell if they are still locking me out using my new name.

[Guest DanD]

hmm I dont know if they do it the same evrywhere, but whe i did my name change, we had to send out letters and get something back from some, (in order to avoid any implications/accusations/suspicions of fraud I assume?)

one specific thing was, i was involved ina court case at the time with an old landlord, and so my lawyer sent their lawyer a letter informing of the name change petition filed, , to inform and asked if he had any reason he would want it denied? something like that. So then he sent us back a letter which said they had no problem with me changing the name or anything. so that went into the file with the other stuff.

we didnt inform absolutely everyone like that, my utilities and my bank, and credit card? nope, i had to inform them later when i sent out the letters to request them change the name on their records for me. some did it right away with no problem at all, others, either ignored it or i had to bug them about it, but it all worked out in the end.

if a woman marries for example, and she changes her last name,they put that on the credit reports. that's the main idea, to be able to show she was someone who probably had her own credit history before she got married, but with another name. But like I said, I dont see why it would really be necessary, especially if your creditors/debtors have all been notified.

When someone sees the old name there, we instantly think they KNOW we're transsexual, but alot of the time they dont know, and all they think of is identity theft. if something doesn't make sense, then, they might bump your credit application because they have some doubts about who you really are. a credit counselor told me that once, years ago, when i was having a hard time getting an apartment.

i think the other problem was landlords are not very knowledgeable about credit reports anyway, and they see some things on there and dont know what it means.

for example, my student loan looked like it was 3 loans, but it wasnt. it also looked like it was derogatory, or in default and it wasnt. I had a few deferrments because they first sent me bills for it when i was still in school. they arent supposed to start billing you till 6 months after you graduate, so they probably wrote it as a deferment, although, really, they shouldnt have, and i should have contacted the credit people and had them fix that. the other part was they wrote it as a derogatory and it wasnt, i got a forgiveness on it after after I was injured, and no longer able to work... i got the bill in the mail, and i called to tel them i was not working at the time due to this injury, i told her soon as i got my disability checks i could pay them. she said why dont you just ask for a forgiveness? because i was unable to do the work that i went to school for.

i said whats that? and she explained. i cancels the debt like it never happened, and it wont go against your credit; and you can always get student loans in the future if you want to go to school later for something else.

I found they had it written out like three times, as idf it were three loans, and they gave it a code 99 which is derogatory, which was not what they said, so i called the State about the loan, and they said i had to fax them a letter, then they would send a letter to the credit bureaus to inform them it had a forgiveness, and they'd put a note on it to fix it. she said they have codes but they only go up to 99 on the reports, and 100 is a forgiveness code. Kind of dumb huh?

anytime you have anything you want to add or say on a report about anything, you can write a letter and get them to put that note on there. it helps if theres something that needs some kind of excuse or whatever. i dont know if it really helps the credit score though. Some people only look at the scores, others get into the details of the reports. i never liked the idea of credit reports to begin with. anyone can have access to your report, and who are they? what makes them so special?

[Guest ValerieD]

I have the loan problem too. I can't get a credit card right now because my credit report doesn't reflect that student loans don't have to be paid until after graduation, so it looks like my monthly expenses are a lot higher than they really are. It doesn't help that I don't have a job, either. I'm basically stuck with the $1000/limit bank credit card I got before the rules changed under Obama.

[Guest (Lightsider)]

Interestingly enough...I have not used my male name since 2007 for credit of any kind. I recently had a credit check and my male name is gone. For what it is worth.

[Guest Jenni_S]

Interestingly enough...I have not used my male name since 2007 for credit of any kind. I recently had a credit check and my male name is gone. For what it is worth.

Nor have I, but the check I ran last month still shows it. I had a mortgage, though, so that could be why. Things will vary, everyone's situation is different.

[Guest DanD]

One thing that has been a real issues since my name change, has been getting turned down for credit because my Identity and credit report could not be Verified. even though i have been in contact with all the credit companies and they assure me everything is correct and accurate m yet the problem continues hell i can't even pull my own credit score as i get an email sent to me that they were unable to verify my identity * eye twitches* but if i call a place and verify it all right there * usually having to fax a copy of my ID to them * they will atleast approve or dnie based on good or bad credit and not some wierd glitch . i mention this as i am not the only one i have heard of this happening to, so just beware if one gets thier name changed of this potential complication.

i have run into that too. for ages i couldn't get a credit card or whatever.. however, it helped once i had changed all the addresses for everything to the place i was at, and had been there for a few years.. they kept on saying i either didnt have enough credit history or that i couldn't be verified for identity. which is why the credit counselor told me, years before that, when they see an alias there on the report, they assume identity theft and bump it.

if you send them more info to prove who you are, it should stop that from happening. i think it helped that i had current utilities and things for a while in my own new name. a land line phone number and bank accounts, and car stuff going to the current address for a while helps establish yourself a bit. part of my problem was at some point i was using two addresses, and before that i didnt have utlities, because they were in a landlords name, or a roommates name. so it always helps to put some bills in your name, even if its magazine subscriptions.

my bank is one of those banks that doesnt report your info for on the credit reports, this is to help you but in this instance didnt elp as much, as far as identity goes.

michelle did that prior to her name change to help with it too. and its nota bad idea. get anything you can put into the new name, to establish a history with that name. magazine subscriptions are a great one to use. for some reason those help with credit ratings. similar to paying off a car debt, make sure that car was put into the new name, and the credit people know about it. they say even if you bought a car from a freind, have them report it that you paid the payments on time for the car, it helps.

it helps me a lot to get that first credit card into the new name, after that i never had a problem with my credit reports somehow.

[Carolyn Marie]

Although not directly related to the subject of this thread, I saw a very disturbing report Sunday on "60 Minutes" about the credit reporting companies. It appears they are not following Federal law, and pretty much ignore requests to investigate and fix errors. These companies are so opaque that it is nearly impossible to get past the useless telephonic service desk people (who are usually in other countries), or get any response at all to written requests.

According to the report, about the only sure way to get their attention is to file a federal lawsuit, and then wait years for results. So while they claim that they will help fix mistakes, the reality is totally the opposite. To anyone with this problem, all I can say is good luck.

Carolyn Marie