ID Verification
 

Does anyone else constantly fail ID checks?
I've been living in the US for 6 years now and I'm a green card holder but any time I try to open an account or do any kind of ID verification online it always fails, leading me to have to manually verify my ID via phone or mail.
Has anyone else had this issue? Will I ever be at the point where I don't have this problem without becoming a citizen?

Re: ID Verification
 

20 year citizen here. I've had two online ID verifications fail in the past three years. When that happens no reason is given, so I did some digging. The most recent problem was with ID.me and it turns out that its verification failed because I have a credit freeze on my file with all three credit reporting agencies. ID.me queries those records and was unable to get access to my file. In an earlier attempt to open an online bank account my ID verification failed because at the time I had a fraud alert on my credit reports. I know someone who was the victim of identity theft and it took them years to clear up the mess, so actually I would take the hassle over convenience every time!

Re: ID Verification
 

The data you enter needs to line up - Name, date of birth, SSN, and address, and typically line up with your driver's license records. The databases used for online data verification typically draw from DL records, and also from credit records, and other sources, and there is some inherent fuzziness about some matching e.g. whether you give your middle name/ initial, but those data items you're being asked for need to match what the databases contain.

So unless you're the subject of a credit freeze, as PT noted above, or unless you suffer from the unfortunate coincidence of being a close match to a known fraudster, it sounds like whatever answers you're giving to the basic ID questions, don't match the ones in the databases that businesses can access to verify their customer's ID.

Re: ID Verification
 

Thank you!
I called Capital One again and they ran me through the process of applying, this time it worked with no problem. Really bizarre.

Re: ID Verification
 

Over the years, I've had several background checks, and each one has picked up on my non regional SSN. Never been an issue, but I have been amazed at how many organizations (who should know better) are not aware of this. Or maybe the majority of immigrants don't apply for jobs requiring enhanced background checks.

Re: ID Verification
 

It's only been 13 years since SSA switched to random number assignment (RNA) (the first three digits not linked to a specific geographic region). Once we reach 2029-2033, when those born after the switch to RNA enter the workforce, employers will very quickly get used to it.

On a vaguely related topic, I have occasionally had people tell me that my vehicle reg numbers are not NC registrations (for example when I phone for police assistance), so I have learned to say specifically "this is an NC tag". And some people still want to argue! :frown: .... Three of my vehicles carry personal reg numbers that were on the vehicles I owned in the UK - so instead of being the ABC-1234 standard format for NC they are either ABC 123D or A123 BCD "old" British format registrations.