What Happens To Your Credit Once You Change Your Social Security Number?

Changing your Social Security number can lead to a lot of monumental tasks. To get your life back in order, you essentially need to rebuild your identity from scratch.

One thing that not many people think of is their credit score. A lot of the information used to determine your credit worthiness is tied to your SSN. If you’ve changed that number, then what happens to your credit score? Today’s post will tell you what to expect.

Unfortunately, There’s No Magic Reset Button

Some of you may be thinking that you’ve found a hidden opportunity. If you have a new Social Security number, then surely you can just request lost social security card online building your credit score from scratch?

It’d be nice if that was the case, but reality is not going to be that kind in this situation. Your credit score will be tied back to you in the end, and regardless of how good or bad your score is, you’re going to want that history tied back to you as soon as possible. If you don’t take the proactive steps needed as soon as possible, then you’re going to have a bigger headache down the line.

So, What Do You Need To Do?

For those that don’t know, your credit score is monitored by three major bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. Your first step is going to involve getting in touch with each of these companies and letting them know that your SSN has been changed.

This won’t be too difficult an action; but you will need to jump through a few hoops. The bureaus are going to require some paperwork on your end to prove that a change to your Social Security number has been made. Once you provide that though, you’ll be good to go.

Once you’ve changed your SSN with the bureaus, you will want to do the same with any credit card companies, banks, and other lenders that report to the credit bureaus. This will ensure that your good credit behavior continues to get reported correctly. The action also stands as a “secondary confirmation” that you are who you say you are, just with a new number.

Some Maintenance Required

For at least the first year after changing your number, you’re going to want to keep an eye on your credit reports. You get one free report from each bureau per year, and you can enroll in a low cost credit monitoring service beyond that.

Why do you want to be such a stickler for your report? For one thing, you want to make sure that all of the changes you’ve made were successfully executed. Further, you’ll be keeping an eye out for any accounts that may have slipped through the cracks. Seeing an account that is reporting your old number will be a minor annoyance to be prepared for.

Moving Forward

Once you’ve completed the above steps you should be good to go! There is a lot of early work that goes into connecting your SSN number to your credit report; but you’ll eventually be able to go into cruise control. So take the above steps today!

The post What Happens To Your Credit Once You Change Your Social Security Number? appeared first on Miami Bach Music.

source http://www.miamibachsociety.org/what-happens-to-your-credit-once-you-change-your-social-security-number/