Proof of Social Security number - help!

[Anonymous]

We are refinancing our house and for some reason they need a copy of my social security card, which I lost years ago. I would just go to the office and request to have another mailed, but evidently they want the copy TODAY to secure our low rate and process the new loan.

They said that they will be satisfied with a letter from the SS office, but I don’t want to go down there and wait in line to just be turned away – I have never heard of them issuing letters on the spot. Has anyone had to do this before or encountered this type of request?

TIA

[Anonymous]

Go in person and request a replacement card. When I did it, they gave me a letter of receipt with my SS number on it, indicating it would be mailed within 10 business days. That should be official enough, right?

[Anonymous]

This is good to know. Thank you! I think that letter of receipt that you mention may be what they are looking for.

Thanks again...

[Anonymous]

I was down at the M street office last month and they gave me a letter with my number on it while pending the new card (came in a week).

[Anonymous]

OP here. I am on my way to the M Street office. Thanks again for the replies you have been most helpful.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't your last year's tax return have your SSN on it?

[Anonymous]

It does, but for some reason they want a card or letter. It seems strange!

[Anonymous]

Interesting post. I've never had my SS card, I think it was lost long ago, and I've never had to show it anyone.

I think lenders are so nervous these days -- they're paranoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It does, but for some reason they want a card or letter. It seems strange!

The attorney we worked with last month when we re-financed said they've had too many people suddenly cancel their appts. for closing when they found out they needed an SS card with them to verify authenticity and identity.

It's too easy to simply provide an SSN, so having the official card just helps to make it more official (although I suppose one could counterfeit a card, but still...) in addition to a photo ID.

[Anonymous]

OP here, I got my letter and faxed it this afternoon.

I guess they have had a lot of problems and they need to be extra careful, which I appreciate, but I could have used a little more notice! My gosh. I am lucky my calendar was a little flexible today!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I got my letter and faxed it this afternoon.

I guess they have had a lot of problems and they need to be extra careful, which I appreciate, but I could have used a little more notice! My gosh. I am lucky my calendar was a little flexible today!

OP, I'm glad you got this sorted. Having just financed my very first home, I'm WELL acquainted with those types of last minute demands. I hope your lender is better than ours was about at least giving you lists of things all at once. We ran around like caged rats trying to accomodate all of our lenders demands last month. He would tell us everything was in order then email me the next day to say he needed a statement from credit card A URGENTLY and that it must be in that morning or it would jeopordize our loan. So okay, i stop what i'm doing, leave work in some cases to accomodate, and the following day or the day after he'd just as urgently need something else he forgot to tell us about. I really disliked working with this lender and wish we had gone with someone else, even though we got a good rate with him.

Our realtor said that this kind of lender behavior is very common. Ours acted like he was doing us an enormous favor and like our schedules revolved around his daily list of demands. We put up with it because we had locked in and didn't want the deal to fall through. Very intimidating.

Sorry for the rant, but I just hope that doesn't happen to you!

[Anonymous]

I am in the same situation. Was the lender satisfied with the letter of receipt or did you need a separate letter?

[Anonymous]

I went to their office in Fairfax and got the letter in 10 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am in the same situation. Was the lender satisfied with the letter of receipt or did you need a separate letter?

OP here. The crazy and frustrating thing is that I urgently faxed them the letter this afternoon and later couldn't get confirmation that it satisfies their requirement. I do hope that I won't be running around again tomorrow trying to satisfy some other last minute request.

I'll let you know.

For all others out there…get a SS card and put it in a safe place. Evidently these types of requests are starting to pop up all over the place.

On a side note, I heard that the airlines are about to get very strict with exact matches of the name on your ticket and the name on your ID, starting July 1.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the warning! We are getting ready to apply for a mortgage for our first house, and I had no idea we would need our actual Social Security cards. Pretty sure I know where they are, but I'll check today just to be sure.