Why your daughter's SSN might appear on your credit report

Dear NDB,

The only way your daughter’s Social Security number would appear on any credit report is for it to be reported by a lender. However, that doesn’t mean fraud is occurring.

I can’t give you a definitive answer from the information in your question, but I can tell you that someone provided that Social Security number in a credit transaction. Experian doesn’t get the information reported directly from the Social Security Administration.

I do have some questions for you that might help you figure out how the number came to be on your report.

Have you ever listed your daughter as an authorized user or joint account holder on one of your accounts? I sometimes talk with parents who have done so but forget because the account was opened long ago.

Is your daughter’s Social Security number similar to yours? If so, it could be possible that a lender made a mistake in entering the number, such as transposing digits, when you applied for credit, making it seem that your daughter’s Social Security number was reported on your credit report.

Could your daughter have applied for credit using your name but her Social Security number? On a number of occasions I have talked with parents whose children were at the mall with friends and did exactly that, without their parents’ knowledge.

Experian can actually help you solve the mystery. When you get your report directly from Experian, you can contact our consumer service representatives by phone. They can link that Social Security number with the account that reported it. You then can contact that creditor and ask them to remove it from your account.

Thanks for asking.