Credit Rating

[Mattfromengland]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know what happens with your credit rating once you've changed your name and updated this along with your gender on everything?

I am assuming with current laws there will be something in place to cover this, as it could be a big problem in living your life if there weren't things in place, but I'd just like reassurance and some info on what I'd need to do to ensure everything goes smoothly and to plan.

I currently have VERY good credit and am also self employed with future plans to expand further, so could possibly be looking at borrowing a lot of money (I'm talking 6 figures). If my credit was messed up due to transition that would affect my work and therefore my life and my future in a major way.

Many thanks,

Steve

[LordKAT]

I haven't noticed a credit rating change from a name or gender change on documents. It can change how people see your credit ratings as your old name WILL appear on a credit check.

[Mattfromengland]

Great thanks for the reply. 🙂

I guess that's better than nothing, but isn't that illegal to have to show your old gender? I thought we were protected against stuff like that.  That said though, I when the time comes I will most likely use my own bank, so they will know anyway as I'm not planning on changing banks.

Thanks

[LordKAT]

It shows names used, not gender.

[Arch]

You can notify the three major credit reporting agencies and tell them that you have changed your name. They might want certified copies, though.

[LordKAT]

You can do that, doesn't stop them from listing all names used.

[Arch]

You can do that, doesn't stop them from listing all names used.

The question was about whether his credit rating would get dorked up, so I told him how to retain the same rating under the new name. He didn't say that he was worried about having his old name showing up on the reports, so I assumed that it wasn't an issue.

[LordKAT]

Good point.

[Mattfromengland]

Hey thanks for the replies everyone.

So basically, all it is is a name change. So this means there's no change to your rating and your records aren't kind of 'lost' due to being under a different identity. Is that about the size of it?

Yes you are right, my question was simply about the rating itself, but that was because I assumed under the gender discrimination laws that your old identity would be hidden. The credit people have no reason to know your tran's status.

This DOES concern me, as of course it means people making money decisions on your behalf would have the opportunity to discriminate against you if they were tran's phobic or whatever (and to be fair a lot of what I read online is actually due to lack of education on the subject and these people will probably not be educated on it and it's not like you can explain it to them like you can your family and friends - even then it's hard for some).

However, given the choice of having my rating lost or become disjointed in some way and having people see my old name (girly so would give it away), I'd rather go with keeping the rating. I was hoping to achieve both the rating and my privacy on the matter though, but oh well.

Again, thanks everyone for your help 🙂

Steve

[tgchar21]

Since the OP is from England (at least based on his username I assume so), I want to mention that those from the U.S. that said that your former name will appear on the report may be incorrect for his case. IIRC I think under the UK's Gender Recognition Act the agencies are required to remove a former name changed due to a gender transition. On legal issues where one lives can make a big difference (so remember to keep that in mind, especially when there are clues as to where they live*). As I say, the physical aspects of transition vary more by the direction of transition (FTM vs. MTF) than where you live, while legal issues are the opposite.

(As a side note, as anyone who has moved to a foreign country or has hung out on an expat forum can tell you, for better or for worse credit history does NOT generally transfer internationally; the credit rating systems are often completely different. Since a U.S. credit report's names are based on ones you've used to obtain credit, moving there for the first time after transitioning would be an exception to your former name appearing; likewise for someone whose name was changed for whatever reason before being old enough to have a line of credit. Conversely if you've used a variant of your name, such as your middle name or nickname as the given name, to obtain credit that name will also show up.)

*A cue I've also used in the past is if I see a date like 18/8/2013 (the date I'm making this post) that indicates they're probably not from the U.S. since there are not more than 12 months in a year (conversely a date like 8/18/2013 would indicate they are). Also look for spellings with the presence or absence of extra u's in words, etc.

[Mattfromengland]

Yes I am indeed from the UK. So would that effect the answer to my original question? If you can change both your name and gender in relation to your credit rating does it then all still match up from your past or is the time before your transition lost, or at least has the potential to get lost within the identity change.

In fact thinking about it, I would hope they have figured out ways to keep it consistent as those with bad credit could wipe their past and start afresh. That's not so good!!!

Anyone know then how it works in the UK?

Thanks

[tgchar21]

I'm not sure if the rating would "carry over" or not, but like you said I think it would because otherwise someone with bad credit could start fresh. Nonetheless, in the UK the law (if I remember it correctly) should allow you to have no sign that you're transgender on your report. (Thanks to that act there are fewer gray areas with TS legal issues over there as compared to in the States.)

[Mattfromengland]

Ok, thanks everyone 🙂

[Arch]

In the U.S., your old name can hang around on a credit report for a long time. I changed my name in 1996, and my old name was still on one credit report the last time I got a free report about two years ago.

Which reminds me...it's about time to get a new report.

At least the name appears at the very end of the report and is unobtrusive. And my old name was fairly exotic.

[Jenna Marie]

All my information is for the US, but what the heck.

I've never seen gender listed either. Name change works out more or less the way it does for someone who changes their name at marriage - the change *should* percolate through to all the credit reporting agencies without you needing to do anything. In practice, there may be some glitches (a couple of college-era loans dropped off my report), and you can contact them directly with the info if it really matters to you. Generally, your info is considered linked by your SSA number, not your name; if you change *that,* and I hear you can, you'll have to start fresh with zero credit rating, but otherwise they should catch up to you eventually.

My experience was that a) it took about a year before all three agencies had everything updated b) my old name does appear as an AKA on at least one report and c) my credit score actually went up slightly. 🙂 Overall, it wasn't the nightmare I'd feared.

[Mattfromengland]

Overall, it wasn't the nightmare I'd feared.

Thanks Jenna, whenever I read the above words I breath a sigh of relief!!!!

P.S. In case anyone following this thread is confused, I've changed my name and seeing how I like it. Tough decision choosing a new name. I think Matt will grow on me 😀

[Jenna Marie]

Glad it helped, and I like the name Matt. 🙂

[LordKAT]

Jenna,

Changing your SSN in the US is not an option even with changing name and gender.

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.

[tgchar21]

Changing your SSN in the US is not an option even with changing name and gender.

From what I've been told there is theoretically a way for a TS to get a new SSN after transitioning, but it would be a long and complicated process requiring a lawyer. Therefore most don't attempt to do so (and as has been said you'd then end up with no credit history, which unless you've just come of age or immigrated to the country would raise even worse eyebrows than a credit report showing a TS-related name change).

[Mattfromengland]

From what I've been told there is theoretically a way for a TS to get a new SSN after transitioning, but it would be a long and complicated process requiring a lawyer. Therefore most don't attempt to do so (and as has been said you'd then end up with no credit history, which unless you've just come of age or immigrated to the country would raise even worse eyebrows than a credit report showing a TS-related name change).

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 🙂