14,000 People Wrongly Reported Deceased Annually

How accurate is the Social Security Death Index? Apparently not accurate at all, according to Thomas Hargrove of the Scripps Howard News Service. He writes, "The Social Security Administration each month falsely reports that nearly 1,200 living Americans have died. These clerical errors, found in a federal database ominously titled the "Death Master File," might be darkly humorous - evoking Mark Twain's famous quip that death reports can be greatly exaggerated - were not the consequences so severe."

Hargrove's article goes on to tell of the experiences of one person listed erroneously amongst the deceased. Judy C. Rivers of Jasper, Alabama, has been told dozens of times that her Social Security number is inactive because she's deceased. Police detained her for several hours last year under suspicion of identity fraud when she tried to use her debit card at a local Walmart. She's been denied college aid and home-refinance loans, been refused job interviews because of irregularities in her file and been rejected 14 times for credit cards.

You can read more in the KnoxNews.com web site at http://goo.gl/8ELBR.

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