Two people with the same Social Security Number?

Question

My husband went to the bank with me today to set up a joint account.He's been with that bank for a few years now.When we gave them our SSNs, there were 2 different people with the same number, having accounts with that bank already. How can 2 people share the same Social Security Number?? They told us to report it to the Social Security, my husband monitors his credit reports but it has never come up. It's a different name, address, date of birth -just the same number...

Answer 1

There are a few possible answers. The least problematic is that the bank made some sort of error, data entry or they put your husband's SSN on someone else's account in error. Hopefully that is the problem.

If not, it could be an identity theft type problem. I would think that it would be unlikely (but not impossible) that someone would steal your husband's identity and then open an account at his bank. If I were him, I'd ask to speak to someone more senior at the bank and have them look into it. The rates of identity theft are rising and you can never be too careful, so hopefully this is the bank's error.

Answer 2

The whole idea of a social security number is that it is a unique identifier, so this should never happen. You say that you have been with that bank for several years - is there a chance they put in the information as if these were new accounts and your own existing accounts came up? That would be the best possible outcome, because it would just mean that the bank keyed something in wrong, not that any identity fraud had taken place. This also seems likely, because if someone else had opened up fraudulent accounts under your social security numbers, it would have shown up on the credit reports (although it is possible that your husband didn't notice it, since you HAVE had accounts at that bank).

Answer 3

This is so ironic, but the same thing happened to me. Someone in a different state had been using my social security number and made my credit very bad, I didn't know about any of this until I went to the social security office and inquired about something. She lived somewhere in PA and I was living in SC at the time.

Answer 4

It's impossible for two or more people to have the same social security number. Somebody probably stole his. The bank is right, you need to report it.

Answer 5

GO to SS ofice asap/may be a ID problem. Anyways it needs to be corrected ASAP or you will have BIG problems down the road.

Answer 6

I D Theft : Call FBI and other Gov. Agency's responsible for these matters

Answer 7

This is serious and I would get it checked out.

Answer 8

probably he let it slip.....