Credit Rating

[tgchar21]

I do wish they would change your name on credit reports here but they wouldn't even change it on a mortgage I had, and that was with sending proof of name change. It is causing problems for me even now.

What's the issue? Assuming you have a court order they should be required to change your name upon showing the proof.

[tgchar21]

Hmmm, I really need to find out for sure what's the deal with all this in the UK. Might make a phone call tomorrow

What I said in that quote is how it applies to U.S. Social Security numbers, and thus would not be applicable in your case unless you are also a U.S. citizen or have lived/plan on moving to the U.S.

[LordKAT]

They said they can't change it as it was a legal document made in my former name, sort of the argument you get from high school on changing it there.

[kelly_aus]

They said they can't change it as it was a legal document made in my former name, sort of the argument you get from high school on changing it there.

A court-ordered name change should supercede any previous 'legal' document.. In fact, I'd try arguing that any 'legal' doc in the old name was null and void - try that one on a mortgage and see how quickly it gets changed..

[Mattfromengland]

try that one on a mortgage and see how quickly it gets changed..

Thumbs up there Kelly!!! 

[LordKAT]

That might work for the mortgage people, but not the high school. High school says it was my name when I graduated and has to stay that way since it wasn't changed before then. Grr to those people.

[tgchar21]

In the case of (U.S.) school records that they won't change, if you really wanted the records updated you could make a federal court case out of it and argue that FERPA, which requires that records be accurate, would require them to acknowledge your new name (no guarantees that your old name would be taken off though unless your name was changed before you ever attended there, but at least if someone were to run a check of attendance under your new name it would pass). (This applies only to public institutions which fall under the scope of FERPA; if you graduated from a private school, especially a religious-based one where the institution could defend itself with the First Amendment's separation of church and state, you basically have little if any legal recourse.) Or, if it's high school records in question and you still live in said school district (you won't really have the clout if you don't), next time a school board seat is up or they're putting a bond levy or tax increase to the voters, you might campaign against the incumbent or bond/tax increase if there are enough voters sympathetic to you to make the candidate lose or the issue fail (of course that would out you to the public, but I once suggested that tactic for a school that wouldn't accommodate a TS student).

[LordKAT]

It is a public school. I never heard of FERPA before. They did say that it was correct when I graduated and that to be accurate it could not be changed.  Perhaps I could try again.


I no longer live in that school district.

[tgchar21]

It is a public school. I never heard of FERPA before. They did say that it was correct when I graduated and that to be accurate it could not be changed.  Perhaps I could try again.


I no longer live in that school district.

FERPA is a federal law that governs educational records and who they can be released to, and schools that don't comply can lose part or all of their federal funding. My idea is that if a federal court says that a name change has to be acknowledged under the law then you should be able to get your records updated unless the district wants to lose money.

Another strategy is if your birth certificate has been amended present that and not just your name change order. I've heard in some cases where a student's name had been changed because of a paternity dispute, remarriage, etc. they had to present that to enroll them under the proper name; if the school uses that logic then you may have success that way.

[Arch]

Yeah, I've never understood why public high schools claim that they cannot change your name retroactively but public community colleges and universities are only too happy to comply. I think it's a crock.

[tgchar21]

Yeah, I've never understood why public high schools claim that they cannot change your name retroactively but public community colleges and universities are only too happy to comply. I think it's a crock.

It's because post-secondary institutions have more to lose since they get a lot of support from their alumni associations, whereas high schools typically don't get as much directly from their associations. That's why I suggested if you're still a patron of the district (and have clout to influence their policies) to vote in school elections against the incumbent board member or any tax increases.

[Jenna Marie]

LordKat : As Tgchar says, it's theoretically possible to change SSN but fiendishly difficult. I know of a couple people who did it, though. I think maybe it was more common in the "deep stealth" days a couple generations back?

As for mortgages, I'm not 100% sure the name was changed on the original *document* for me, although it has been for the loan account. (I do at least know it was changed on the legal title to the property, thank goodness.)

[LordKAT]

Mortgage people would only hyphenate or add a name, not change it. The name didn't match my checks or ID but that didn't stop them from changing my name to something it was not instead of to something it was.

For what it is worth, the mortgage company illegally foreclosed on my home and I do have a partial settlement coming from them. I had to send my name change papers to get a check in the correct name. That was sent to the lawyers and people issuing the checks.

My birth cert was amended when I changed my name. I have not tried that tactic. I am working on changing my gender on the birth cert and getting it impounded. Perhaps that will be enough to do it.

SSN changes are extremely difficult and a name or gender change will not be enough to do so. Witness protection programs will change them and I'm sure there are other ways but I do not think it worthwhile to persue.

Back to the original issue, a name change sent to the credit report agencies results in them adding the name as AKA, not actually changing it.

[tgchar21]

I got to looking about the issue of changing school records, and like with birth certificates there are three possibilities:

1. They'd update your records without any mention of your former name and/or gender (at least on the transcript that outsiders would see). This of course would be the best procedure, but the only way it would probably be legally guaranteed is if your name changed before you ever attended said school (in such a case the only way that registrar should know about your former name is if you had to tell them to ensure that records further back matched up).

2. They'd add your new name to the records, but your former name/gender would still be shown. While this will out you to anyone who sees the transcript, this would at least eliminate any ambiguity that the records are yours and would allow those verifying that you attended there and earned said diploma/degree to do so without knowledge of your old name. If someone were to make the FERPA court challenge as I mentioned earlier in the thread this is probably as successful as they'd get, and for anyone who changes their name while attending the school you should already be able to get at least this far. When I contacted the high school I graduated from this is what they said they'd do (they said they had to keep the name a student attended under there on the record).

3. They won't update your records at all. This of course is the most problematic for TSs, and is what you may be able to get around if you were to contest it in court (based on the logic that FERPA requires the records be accurate).