I keep running into my old name....

[Eva Marie]

As much as I try to change my name everywhere it still keeps popping up unexpectedly in strange places like some wound up jack in the box. As an example, today I went to the auto parts store and they asked for my phone number. When they entered it guess who popped up? I quickly made up a story on the spot to explain (ie: it's someone that used to live with me) and I thought that I had gotten away with it, but then the rewards card I have there popped up you guessed it - my old name again.

The first time my old name popped up the guy looked perplexed and turned the monitor around for me to see,  but when it popped up again I think he started to figure it out -  so much for keeping a low profile. He was very nice about it, but it was very uncomfortable for me after having just told a whopping fib.

I've also had it happen when I went to pick up prescriptions because they were under my old name, as was my health insurance card (both fixed now).

I have had this happen *so* many times before and it's getting old; i'm tired of getting outed by my old name unexpectedly popping up here and there.

Is this a problem for anyone else - being outed by the sudden and unexpected appearance of your old name? How long did it take you to mostly eradicate your old name?

[Beth Andrea]

It'll show up more often if you keep going out like that...!!



Just stay home, order online. Saves all that hassle with new names, old names, new face, old face...

j/k

Seriously though, the first year or so I had that issue as well. I always came clean about it though--"Oh that's my old name! Can you change it for me please?"

I haven't had any problems with this issue, most people don't care. And if they do take offense, gently remind them that they're free to voice their opinion, as soon as the manager/owner comes over. "And you're going to call him right over, aren't you sweetie? If you don't, I will."

[Mariah]

It's happened, but nothing has been said I have been able to explain it away so far. It's always at those places that ask for your phone number that take your name and other info with it. I wasn't originally planning on going to safeway yesterday, but I forgot something for dinner and had to pick it up. I had totally forgot about it tell I was inline and I was asked for my phone number. Otherwise the only place left with my old name is on my college transcripts. The alumni side has been updated just not the physical records themselves. Eventually I will get them updated, but in some cases I just signed up for new cards and used the cell phone instead of home phone to avoid this issue.
Mariah

[Ms Grace]

That'll be never for me. I have old publications and comics and artwork with my guy name plastered all over them. Just gonna have to roll with that.

[suzifrommd]

Called to get my exercise bike repaired yesterday. "It's registered under someone else's name" they tell me. This before I've told them my name. So 18 months out, still dogging me.

When I need to, I out myself. I'm not ashamed of having transitioned. "That's a name I used to go by" is what I usually say.

[Pinkkatie]

I just changed mine three months ago and this still happens to me. I just tell them that the name they have is my former name and ask if they can change it for me. The only place I've had a problem changing my name was with PayPal. I even sent them copies of my legal documents and they still are not changing my name on there.

[Mariah]

Paypal was actually easy for me once they received the documents. That was all they required. I wonder why your having trouble with them. The one that I found was a pain was Dell. I have a protection plan on both laptops I have and I had to have the one laptop repaired. The plans were in my old name and they were not at first willing to do anything about it. I had update my name with them everywhere else without a problem. As a result of that the correspondence that was occurring due to that computer was being sent in both my old name and current one. I had to get them to completely clear my old name from their system. Now all emails from them don't have any name attached which is better than seeing my old name pop up. Have to you tried escalating the problem with paypal. Have you made sure your bank info listed with them is updated already?
Mariah

I just changed mine three months ago and this still happens to me. I just tell them that the name they have is my former name and ask if they can change it for me. The only place I've had a problem changing my name was with PayPal. I even sent them copies of my legal documents and they still are not changing my name on there.

[Pinkkatie]

Paypal was actually easy for me once they received the documents. That was all they required. I wonder why your having trouble with them. The one that I found was a pain was Dell. I have a protection plan on both laptops I have and I had to have the one laptop repaired. The plans were in my old name and they were not at first willing to do anything about it. I had update my name with them everywhere else without a problem. As a result of that the correspondence that was occurring due to that computer was being sent in both my old name and current one. I had to get them to completely clear my old name from their system. Now all emails from them don't have any name attached which is better than seeing my old name pop up. Have to you tried escalating the problem with paypal. Have you made sure your bank info listed with them is updated already?
Mariah

I have changed the information with all of my banks without any problems prior to trying to change it with PayPal. I sent in a copy of my driver's license along with a copy of my court papers along with a statement saying that I have legally changed my name and need to change it with them. I got an email from them where they questioned why I was doing this. I was confused by this, especially since it the question was already answered in the email I sent them. I just reiterated that I legally changed my name and need to change my name with them.

I followed it up with a call to PayPal, and they stated that I had to send them proof of a name change. I told them I already have but nothing has happened. They didn't give me someone else I could talk to or a different email address or snail mail address to send this to. After some frustrating back and forth over this, I gave up.

Still nothing has happened to this day.

[allisonsteph]

My name change became official February 4, 2014, and my old name is still popping up from time to time. I am curious what will happen when I file my taxes in 2015. I collected unemployment under my old name from January to April 2014 (couldn't for the life of me figure out how to change it with them) and I have worked under my current name since November 2014. I did have one academic paper published under my old name so if anyone researches the topic I wrote about they may find it.

I recently goggled myself and found the legal notice of my intention to change my name. To my surprise it appeared in three newspapers (small community newspapers all owned by the same publisher), not just the  one I paid for the notice to appear.

[Jill F]

My main issue of late is that after my legal name change, my bank reissued my debit card with the same number.  It's nice that I didn't have to go through the hassle of changing it with everyone who has it on file, but what happens sometimes is something like this:

Cashier: "I'm sorry, we have this card number under a different name."
Me: "Is that a problem?"
Cashier: "Well, it looks like you may be committing some kind of fraud."
Me: "No, there's no fraud going on here.  This is my card."
Cashier: "What's your address and phone number then?"
Me: "<home address and phone number>"
Cashier: "That's what we have, but the name we have is Gregory  <lastname>.  Do you know him?"
Me: "That was me before I transitioned."
Cashier: (choose one) "Holy crap!"/"Umm, OK. Not what I expected."/"WTF?"/"Oh, my <distant family member> is trans* too."/*blank stare*

[JLT1]

Yea,  it just keep happening....

I understand it at those place where I haven't formally changed my name.  But last week, I reordered checks with my new name and specifically outed myself so that there would be no way that there would be a problem.  I got the checks today.  Old name.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I'm hoping that it will just get less often and less often.

Hugs,

Jen

[Jill F]

Yea,  it just keep happening....

I understand it at those place where I haven't formally changed my name.  But last week, I reordered checks with my new name and specifically outed myself so that there would be no way that there would be a problem.  I got the checks today.  Old name.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I'm hoping that it will just get less often and less often.

Hugs,

Jen

It's kind of like electrolysis.  You keep plucking away and the damned thing comes back up half the time.

[Stephe]

6 years later and mine still pops up, but it's pretty rare anymore.

One thing I did was I got online and ordered every free snail mail catalog I could find using my new name. I also donated a few bucks to half a dozen "march of dimes" type places. Before long I was getting piles of junk mail in my new name, they sell your info to other people and it wasn't long before mail in my old name appeared. I also changed my phone number (I removed the old one from the online white pages too) and signed up with new "rewards cards" at all those places. Your old phone number is going to be "poisoned" with your wrong name. The other thing I did was the half dozen things I did get mailed with the wrong name, I called their number and asked them to change it, "My brother moved but I still live here and enjoy reading it"... One thing that was hard to get fixed was the people who farm your name etc off of your credit card. It will pop up your old name even if you have a new card. You might have to totally close that account and have the bank open a new one to flush the info away.

[Stephe]

I have changed the information with all of my banks without any problems prior to trying to change it with PayPal. I sent in a copy of my driver's license along with a copy of my court papers along with a statement saying that I have legally changed my name and need to change it with them. I got an email from them where they questioned why I was doing this. I was confused by this, especially since it the question was already answered in the email I sent them. I just reiterated that I legally changed my name and need to change my name with them.

I followed it up with a call to PayPal, and they stated that I had to send them proof of a name change. I told them I already have but nothing has happened. They didn't give me someone else I could talk to or a different email address or snail mail address to send this to. After some frustrating back and forth over this, I gave up.

Still nothing has happened to this day.

Paypal won't do it from my experience. What I did was opened another checking account for online use only, deleted my old paypal account and opened a new one using this other checking account with my new name.

[JLT1]

Paypal won't do it from my experience. What I did was opened another checking account for online use only, deleted my old paypal account and opened a new one using this other checking account with my new name.

Thank you for that - I haven't changed paypal yet..... I'll just skip that and open a new one!

Hugs,

Jen

[Sydney_NYC]

Paypal won't do it from my experience. What I did was opened another checking account for online use only, deleted my old paypal account and opened a new one using this other checking account with my new name.

I did the same thing for another reason. When I called to change my old account, they asked if I lived at another address about 3 towns away from where I live. I told them I never lived in that town. Then I remembered about a year ago:

I got a call from a collection agency asking for more old name (I had gone by my middle name and they called me by my middle name which was off since all my accounts I had used my legal first name.) So I told them that was my middle name not my first name. They then asked if I lived at an address I never heard of and I said know. They asked for the last 4 digits of my SS# and and said no I will not give that out as I don't know who you are. They said they were a collection agency and PayPal was their client. I asked how the last name is spelled and it didn't match.  (There are several variations of spelling my last name but it sounds the same.) They then asked if my SS# ended by XXXX and I said no (it didn't match) and then they said OK, we have the wrong person and never heard from them again.

After we cleared that up they asked me why I was changing my name. I told them I was transgender and I have a court order. The guy said he had to speak with a supervisor. I waited for 10 min on the phone and they come back and said, "Well the supervisor isn't convinced your not the other person 3 towns over." After going back and forth a few times it ended with, "we can't change it until the other account is paid or you can prove your not that other person." I told them never mind on the name change as they were being unreasonable. Then he tells me that I need to pay the other account. I said no, because it's not mine. It's up to you to prove it is me and no information matches other than my old middle name and their first name and the last name isn't even spelled exactly the same. I hung up at that point and just started a new account.

[Eva Marie]

I had no trouble with paypal - followed their procedure and sent the info they asked for and it was a done deal.

I changed my name with that auto store rewards card using their online site and later went back and the old name popped back up yet again arrgghh......

[ImagineKate]

Yea,  it just keep happening....

I understand it at those place where I haven't formally changed my name.  But last week, I reordered checks with my new name and specifically outed myself so that there would be no way that there would be a problem.  I got the checks today.  Old name.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I'm hoping that it will just get less often and less often.

Hugs,

Jen

I hope you sent it back and asked for replacements. The printing error was their fault, not yours.

[ImagineKate]

Thanks for the heads up ladies, I think I am going to change my phone number too to avoid this mess.

These days I'm kind of paranoid about signing up for new stuff, because I haven't changed my name yet. So I more or less have a moratorium on that stuff.

[ImagineKate]

I did the same thing for another reason. When I called to change my old account, they asked if I lived at another address about 3 towns away from where I live. I told them I never lived in that town. Then I remembered about a year ago:

I got a call from a collection agency asking for more old name (I had gone by my middle name and they called me by my middle name which was off since all my accounts I had used my legal first name.) So I told them that was my middle name not my first name. They then asked if I lived at an address I never heard of and I said know. They asked for the last 4 digits of my SS# and and said no I will not give that out as I don't know who you are. They said they were a collection agency and PayPal was their client. I asked how the last name is spelled and it didn't match.  (There are several variations of spelling my last name but it sounds the same.) They then asked if my SS# ended by XXXX and I said no (it didn't match) and then they said OK, we have the wrong person and never heard from them again.

After we cleared that up they asked me why I was changing my name. I told them I was transgender and I have a court order. The guy said he had to speak with a supervisor. I waited for 10 min on the phone and they come back and said, "Well the supervisor isn't convinced your not the other person 3 towns over." After going back and forth a few times it ended with, "we can't change it until the other account is paid or you can prove your not that other person." I told them never mind on the name change as they were being unreasonable. Then he tells me that I need to pay the other account. I said no, because it's not mine. It's up to you to prove it is me and no information matches other than my old middle name and their first name and the last name isn't even spelled exactly the same. I hung up at that point and just started a new account.

Collection agencies are basically legalized scam artists. They buy the debt for pennies on the dollar then try to collect. When they can't collect from the original debtor they try to scam other people into paying up.