Heroes in Business - Experian Identity Report with Rod Griffin, Lifes Big Moments When Someone Passes Away

Episode Date: April 16, 2023

Experian Identity Report with Rod Griffin, Lifes Big Moments When Someone Passes Away. Rod Griffin is the Sr Director of Public Education for Experian. Be sure you are not sharing too much information when a loved one passes. Listen as David Cogan, Host of the Heroes Show and Founder of Eliances entrepreneur community interviews Rod who shares all you need to know for Lifes Big Moments.   

Up in the sky, look, it's captivating, it's energizing, it's Eliance's Heroes. Eliance's is the destination for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, inventors, leaders, celebrities, and startups, where our heroes in business align. Now, here's your host flying in, David Kogan, founder of Eliance's. Oh my gosh, I am so excited. We've got such hot topics for you that are critical that you've got to listen to. So I'm excited. Make sure you stay tuned through the entire show. We've got things that are going to help you. So let's talk about this. Life's big moments when someone passes. That's right, because it's about that time. Time for the Experian Identity Report. And we're

speaking today with Senior Director of Public Education for Experian. That's right, Rod Griffin. Now, Ron leads the Experian's National Consumer Education Programs and works with consumer advocates and financial educators to help consumers increase their ability to understand and manage their personal finances and protect themselves from fraud and identity theft. So, Rod, welcome back. Every time we talk, our audience really learns so much about protecting and managing their identities. We read about it all the time every day within the news. So let's talk about this. What should you do if you need to manage the identity of someone that passes? Do people really need to be that careful about sharing too much information about a person that passes within things like obituaries? David, great to be back. Good to see you. Starting with a heavy topic today, but once a loved one

passes away, there are a number of things you need to think about from an identity perspective. number of things you need to think about from an identity perspective. First is the identity and how it could be used of the person who has passed. If their identity is shared in obituaries, there are sadly people who read obituaries and look for exactly that opportunity. Is there a person who has passed away and they can steal that identity to use to commit identity fraud, to commit financial frauds. So you need to be a little bit careful. When a person passes away, there are steps you can take. Now, one is if you are a spouse or a family member or the executor of the estate, of course, you would share that death certificate with the Social Security Administration. You can also share it with the credit bureaus, and we will put what we call a

deceased indicator on the credit file so that the credit history is still there to help protect that individual because it will show a lender that that person has passed away and they should not open an account or take other actions using that identity. So it's very important to be careful about what you share, where you share it, especially early on after that person's passed. Now, again, should you notify all three credit reporting agencies? And if so, what's the best practice to be able to in doing that? Because, of course, making sure that you're really notifying the credit agency and not a fake site that's been set up for that yeah you don't have to

when you when the debt certificate is shared with the social security administration they have something that is rather indelicately referred to as the dead file. And that is reported to the credit bureaus. And when we receive that update periodically, we will include that deceased indicator that says this credit history is associated with a person who has died or has passed away. And that reflects the whole credit file. So you don't have to, but you can and you can send that death certificate to the credit bureaus.

You can either go to Experian.com slash upload and upload it to us. You can send it to Experian at PO Box, remember that PO Box, 9701 Allen, Texas 75013, and we'll be able to then include that notice or the statement in the credit file as well. include that notice or the statement in the credit file as well. And you can do that with each of the other bureaus and make sure that that record is on file. Makes sense. Now, Rod, should a family or executor of the estate review the deceased credit report? And if that's the case, why? Yes, they should. And for a very simple reason. If you're the executor of the estate, you'll be able to see what debts that individual had at the time of passing and be able to notify those creditors. Another thing that you should do, and they will then update their records for those accounts to show that that person is deceased. That would then be reflected in the credit report at an account level as well.

And so, yes, get that report. We'll tell you what you need to know about the debts they owe, what the estate may need to pay, or what status they have. So really important to do. Rod, this is great information. I mean, they don't teach you this in school of what do you do if this happens. I mean, you know, so again, and you're watching, listening to me, David Kogan, host of the Alliances Hero Show. Make sure that you go to alliances.com, that's E-L-I-A-N-C-S.com, where you could watch and listen to past episodes by Experian. Make sure you click on radio and then go to Experian because we've got with us the Experian Weekly Identity Report, and we're

honored to have Rod Griffiths, Senior Director of Public Education for Experian. All right, so should a family, I'm sorry, the next is really is, should a family assume or should we assume or inform the Social Security and DMV or any others that are out there too? Yes. A lot of yeses today. The more you do to proactively notify agencies and organizations that the person has passed away, the more secure that identity will be. So the DMV with the driver's license, for example, you know, the other organizations, you know, you mentioned, all of them are important. If there's a licensing relationship, if there's a professional relationship of some sort that involves an identity, definitely should notify them. Notify all of your lenders, all of their lenders.

And it's also important, one thing to think about that just occurred to me is if you are a joint account holder with that deceased individual, it's important to notify those lenders so that you make sure that the account is shown as associated with a deceased individual on their credit history, but not on yours. So we want to make sure that that joint account is reflected properly as well so that if their identity is used, it's protected. as well so that if their identity is used, it's protected. Walk us through the process, please, in regards to what tools that Experian offers to help people manage this. Because you cover a lot in a very short period of time, and it's overwhelming, right? We already have a loss of someone. The emotions are flying.

Family members are all over the place. So help us with that regarding the experience part. Sure. As an executor of the estate or as a family member or spouse, the first step is to notify the Social Security Administration. That often happens automatically as part of the process of a person passing away. You may want to notify the credit bureau, certainly get a copy of that credit report. You can request a copy online at screen.com and request a report or again, mail

a letter to us so that you can review the report, notify. So that's step two. Step three, notify the lenders that are on that report of the person's passing so that they can update their records. And then step three, as you said and mentioned, the DMV, any state agencies that you may have relationships with, other licensing organizations for your identities involved, notify them so that they have a record as well and it can take appropriate precautions. And make sure you go to the real site of them. We're calling the real phone numbers, not providing all of your information to a fake one that's been set up. Absolutely true. Yeah.

When you're going to a website, if you're coming to Experian, you go to Experian.com or Experian.com slash upload or Experian.com slash disputes, the sites we have to help you. You can make sure that you'll see the security measures. Make sure you're always working with a known organization. You might go to your state secretary of state office or attorney's general's office. They often have guidance on steps you can take as well to help manage the records that would be possibly out there but go to the real the sites that you know and trust and that are secure absolutely fabulous information this has been the experian identity report again with rod griffin

senior director of public education for experian make sure that you go to experian.com because you've been watching, listening to me, David Kogan, host of the Alliances Hero Show. Make sure you go to Alliances.com and look forward to next week where again, we have the Experian Identity Reward. Thank you again, Rod Griffin. Thank you, David.