Issue with SSN? Unable to be added to spouse bank account and credit card.

[smilingstone 534]

Hi all,

 

Facing a rather frustrating issue with my SSN, here's a timeline:

 

• Arrived in Jan
• Applied for SSN early Feb
• Married mid Feb
• By March first SSN never arrived, arranged replacement that arrived by the end of March.
• Tried to get added to husbands bank account but lady at bank said it came back "unverified". Told me to speak to SSA to get them to "activate" my SSN. Called SSA same day and explained situation, was told that SSNs aren't activated, they are valid upon being generated and issued. Left it there for a while.
• Tried to update name on SSN but had a problem with lack of docs. Returned once I had my EAD card and it was updated.
• Received updated SSN early June.

 

I'm already an authorized user on my husband's credit card (did this before updating my name so only provided my contact info) but we're trying to upgrade my access on the account. I put in my SSN, but it keeps saying it can't be verified. We also want to try the bank again, but it's a 1.5 hour round trip to the bank and we feel we might face the same issue.

 

Anyone else experienced this? Is there something I need to do with my SSN? Im going to start looking for work soon so I have to be able to either open an account of my own or be added to my husbands. 

 

Any help or advice is appreciated!

[W199 463]

1 hour ago, smilingstone said:

Hi all,

 

Facing a rather frustrating issue with my SSN, here's a timeline:

 

• Arrived in Jan
• Applied for SSN early Feb
• Married mid Feb
• By March first SSN never arrived, arranged replacement that arrived by the end of March.
• Tried to get added to husbands bank account but lady at bank said it came back "unverified". Told me to speak to SSA to get them to "activate" my SSN. Called SSA same day and explained situation, was told that SSNs aren't activated, they are valid upon being generated and issued. Left it there for a while.
• Tried to update name on SSN but had a problem with lack of docs. Returned once I had my EAD card and it was updated.
• Received updated SSN early June.

 

I'm already an authorized user on my husband's credit card (did this before updating my name so only provided my contact info) but we're trying to upgrade my access on the account. I put in my SSN, but it keeps saying it can't be verified. We also want to try the bank again, but it's a 1.5 hour round trip to the bank and we feel we might face the same issue.

 

Anyone else experienced this? Is there something I need to do with my SSN? Im going to start looking for work soon so I have to be able to either open an account of my own or be added to my husbands. 

 

Any help or advice is appreciated!

 

If its one of the premium cards by places like Chase, they are likely trying to do more than just a SSN verification or using a different system than directly checking with the SSA.  I had a similar issue with my Wife's SSN.  We also had tried it with Discover. It initially was not verified because of the married name vs  SSN name mismatch. When we reapplied in her maiden name it verified and got the card. 

 

The moral is to try to open a Discover card in your name.  Then you will know if your SSN can be verified or not. 

 

In all likelyhood it is, just the security systems of those other cards can be a pain ... 

[smilingstone 534]

14 minutes ago, W199 said:

 

If its one of the premium cards by places like Chase, they are likely trying to do more than just a SSN verification or using a different system than directly checking with the SSA.  I had a similar issue with my Wife's SSN.  We also had tried it with Discover. It initially was not verified because of the married name vs  SSN name mismatch. When we reapplied in her maiden name it verified and got the card. 

 

The moral is to try to open a Discover card in your name.  Then you will know if your SSN can be verified or not. 

 

In all likelyhood it is, just the security systems of those other cards can be a pain ... 

 

Thanks for this. 

 

It's been weeks since I updated my name on SSN to my married name, maybe around a month. Surely that'd be enough time for systems to update? Maybe not though as I'm still having this problem 😕

[yuna628 9,860]

Is it Chase? Because if it is, go elsewhere. Been here for years, excellent credit, and those guys enjoy saying no for fun. Discover usually comes through just fine. Secured credit first and then upgrade in some months.

[TBoneTX 47,405]

A regional or local bank should be more flexible than the giant ones.

[smilingstone 534]

6 hours ago, yuna628 said:

Is it Chase? Because if it is, go elsewhere. Been here for years, excellent credit, and those guys enjoy saying no for fun. Discover usually comes through just fine. Secured credit first and then upgrade in some months.

 

I'm guessing my credit at the moment would be dog poo because I don't have any credit record here. Do you think that might be a reason? Do I need to create a line of credit for myself to make me appear on these systems? 

 

4 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

A regional or local bank should be more flexible than the giant ones.

 

It's a VERY regional bank. That's why it's such a long trip there because it's in a neighboring county where my husband works, so they have no branches in our county. 

[MarmiteC 69]

2 hours ago, smilingstone said:

I'm guessing my credit at the moment would be dog poo because I don't have any credit record here. Do you think that might be a reason? Do I need to create a line of credit for myself to make me appear on these systems? 

Try American express, they can pull International credit records.  Worth a try but they were helpful for me although I didn't have the SSN issue.

[yuna628 9,860]

4 hours ago, smilingstone said:

 

I'm guessing my credit at the moment would be dog poo because I don't have any credit record here. Do you think that might be a reason? Do I need to create a line of credit for myself to make me appear on these systems? 

 

 

It's a VERY regional bank. That's why it's such a long trip there because it's in a neighboring county where my husband works, so they have no branches in our county. 

Neither I or my husband had a credit score at the time. I was certainly able to have a bank account long before he got here, and added him to mine with no issues (in fact iirc I added him without an SSN because it hadn't arrived yet). That was well before he was working or had a credit card or anything. Six months secured with Discover was all it took for a full card. He added me as an authorized user, and since then we both have an excellent score. We recently needed a card for international travel and Discover wouldn't cut it. We thought with our excellent credit it would be easy. Chase dragged us around for weeks with more and more convoluted demands. So we went to our local bank and explained the situation. They were more than willing to provide us a card within days. Within a year they tripled our limit. I can find hundreds of posts of Chase doing this to both immigrants and US citizens. Bottom line always is, if a big bank doesn't want to do business with you, they don't deserve you to begin with.

Edited Tuesday at 01:58 PM by yuna628

[KMG 213]

16 hours ago, smilingstone said:

Hi all,

 

Facing a rather frustrating issue with my SSN, here's a timeline:

 

• Arrived in Jan
• Applied for SSN early Feb
• Married mid Feb
• By March first SSN never arrived, arranged replacement that arrived by the end of March.
• Tried to get added to husbands bank account but lady at bank said it came back "unverified". Told me to speak to SSA to get them to "activate" my SSN. Called SSA same day and explained situation, was told that SSNs aren't activated, they are valid upon being generated and issued. Left it there for a while.
• Tried to update name on SSN but had a problem with lack of docs. Returned once I had my EAD card and it was updated.
• Received updated SSN early June.

 

I'm already an authorized user on my husband's credit card (did this before updating my name so only provided my contact info) but we're trying to upgrade my access on the account. I put in my SSN, but it keeps saying it can't be verified. We also want to try the bank again, but it's a 1.5 hour round trip to the bank and we feel we might face the same issue.

 

Anyone else experienced this? Is there something I need to do with my SSN? Im going to start looking for work soon so I have to be able to either open an account of my own or be added to my husbands. 

 

Any help or advice is appreciated!

I have a friend whose husband had this problem when he first arrived. She warned me about this being a potential problem.  It is because the SSN appears to belong to a  "baby" because it is so new, and why would that "baby" need an account.  She was part of a small regional bank, so they resolved it right at the bank.  I would go to another branch of the bank, and find someone that is patient, knows what they are doing and can help you through the process.

Edited Tuesday at 05:02 PM by KMG

[W199 463]

You can also try logging in to your SSA account online to verify your account and the name it is under. 

 

 

[smilingstone 534]

1 hour ago, W199 said:

You can also try logging in to your SSA account online to verify your account and the name it is under. 

 

 

 

Great idea but it looks like I can't verify myself before I get my DL.

 

 

Wondering if this is the cause of my problem.

[SL2024 291]

16 minutes ago, smilingstone said:

 

Great idea but it looks like I can't verify myself before I get my DL.

 

 

Wondering if this is the cause of my problem.

 

Did you not apply for a State ID? 

[W199 463]

1 hour ago, smilingstone said:

 

Great idea but it looks like I can't verify myself before I get my DL.

 

 

Wondering if this is the cause of my problem.

There are 2 ways 2 login, one is using ID.ME and the other uses login.gov.   

 

One of those does require a driver's license, which didn't work for me because of a name mismatch with my middle name.  But I was able to use the other one with my passport (which had my correct middle name), to login.