There is more than one way to skin a cockroach, and more than one way to have trouble with your social security number (SSN). Because we use it so often in our daily lives, the SSN can literally halt you in your tracks if you have no SSN match. Simply put, an SSN match confirms that SSN records with a SSN search from the Social Security Administration (SSA) is the same as the name and date of birth you supplied. SSN Match is also part of how to search people by SSN when you recieve the resutls.
Need for an SSN match
1. Eligibility for student loan or aid
If you are a student applying for help from the government for educational purposes, an SSN match is a definite requirement. This is mandated under the Higher Education Act and Student Assistance General Provisions. Federal Student Aid (FSA) will not even process an application if the SSN is missing or there is no SSN match. Students who have no SSN must first get one by applying with the SSA, and the information you give the SSA must be the same as your school records and your loan application to the FSA. If you lost your SS card and cannot remember the SSN, you have to get the information from the SSA. Make sure that your FSA application will yield SSN match verification. Otherwise, be ready to start working part-time flipping burgers.
2. Employment
Even if employers believe you are dealing honestly with them, they must still make sure there is an SSN match. This is simply because employers who fail to include an SSN or input an incorrect SSN in your W-4 form gets penalized by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). If an employer fails to make sure they have the right SSN, it can cost them $50 per employee with no SSN match and they will have a whale of a time explaining to the IRS why this had happened. So try to keep a philosophical attitude about having an SSN match verification done on you through LocatePeople.org or other reputable search companies, they are just trying to cover their bases with the government. It is not a reflection on your moral standing.
3. Financial transactions
When you try to be a good citizen and pay your taxes promptly or you want to avail of social security services, you can have a hard time of it if you fail to get an SSN match in your tax returns or social security contributions. About 23,000 people were mistakenly flagged as deceased within a two-year period alone. A woman who was a victim of this error in 2000 spent years trying to get herself reinstated so she could pay her taxes and be eligible for employment and health insurance.
For no other reason than reassurance, you might want to make sure you have an SSN match. There have been instances where an SSN is being used in all innocence by several people. In the case of the Woolworth SSN, about 40,000 people used the same SSN in their daily transactions, even though the SSN in question had been deactivated wince 1943.