According to this New York Post article, there is a man in Brooklyn with the name “God Gazarov” and because of his first name Equifax has been unable or unwilling to maintain an accurate credit report. This is because the Equifax system allegedly automatically rejects his first name, “God”.
According to him the issue doesn’t occur with either of the other national credit bureaus, TransUnion or Experian. He has tried for two years to rectify the problem and the only solution Equifax has given him has been to “change his name”.
This reminds me of a friend I have named “James Bond”, when he first signed up to facebook his account was automatically flagged and shut down. For several years he had to use a fake name, it wasn’t until the company grew and this became more of an issue that he was able to fax in a copy of his birth certificate to use his real name.
This might seem like a funny joke to some, but without a credit report (and thus a credit score) from all three of the major credit bureaus it can be extremely difficult to get a large loan (e.g a mortgage or auto loan). Mr. Gazarov found this when he tried to purchase an Infiniti car last year.
Do you know of anybody who doesn’t have a credit report with Equifax or any of the other credit bureaus because of their name? If so, let us know their name in the comments. We’ve sent multiple requests for comment to Equifax and at this stage they haven’t replied.
