I applied for a credit increase on an account in good standing and when they were asking questions to verify my account they asked if I knew someone and their age. Are they trying to locate that person for collections?
Because of wide usage and availability of credit report information, it is no longer as safe a way to verify identity. Anyone else who pulled your reports, or to whom you had applied in the past, could use the same information you provided to pretend to be you. The very use of identity information weakens its security. Some credit card companies (I believe Citi is one), have now taken to using additional information not normally available from the CRAs, such as ChoicePoint information on relative lists or people with the same mailing addresses, sometimes used by law enforcement in investigations. This information is less commonly available, at least for now, until it's use also becomes widespread. It may also be more error-prone, since it is poorly checked, from sources of varying reliability, and is seldom corrected or correctable by consumers, if they even know it exists.
