[astura]

It's a common misconception.

I don't know why people think that something magically can't effect your credit report without knowledge of your SSN. Name+address+DOB is enough to identify you.

Chase does not require a Social Security number when you add an authorized user so people are always absolutely shocked their "authorized user account" appears on their credit report.

[somehnguy]

Yup, I had a ton of delinquent accounts on my credit reports that were a similar (but not exact) name and similar (but not exact) SSN and similar (but not exact) birthdate as mine. Seems they’ll just find the closest match and slap it on.

I learned this as I was applying for student loans at the end of highschool and kept getting denied. It’s the reason I ended up having to take a bunch of crazy high interest rates from Sallie Mae/now Navient to go to college as planned.

Of course the credit agencies reporting all these false debts suffer 0 consequences for it, only the consumer does. I’m still pretty mad about it 15 years later, got slightly off topic :)