‘Dead’ for two decades

OPINION:

In 1994, I discovered I had been “dead” for 20 years (“IRS refused to pay stimulus checks, wrongly claiming taxpayers were dead,” web, Aug. 11).

I learned this after getting a copy of my credit report, which read: “The holder of this Social Security number died in 1974.” Except for this “slight” error, everything else in my report was correct. 

I contacted the Social Security Administration on the phone and they confirmed that I was dead. I was amazed to get to the bottom of the story within an hour.

As an orphan, I had received Social Security payments. Because I went to college full time, the payments continued after I turned 18 (in the 1980s, Congress stopped this practice).

The snafu occurred when I notified Social Security in 1974 that I was graduating from college. Instead of entering the code for graduation, someone entered the code that I had died. I did not suspect anything was wrong when the checks stopped.

I joined the Army in 1975, and my using a “dead” person’s Social Security number never came up. It did not come up in 1982 when I became an officer in the Navy, either. I received hundreds of credit card offers between 1974 and 1994; I even bought a house with a mortgage in 1989.

All of this leads me to wonder about the intelligence of those who issue credit cards. Why did they not cancel my credit cards once it was reported that I was using a dead person’s Social Security number?

I guess since my bills were all paid on time, they did not care who was paying them.

Further, the Social Security Administration never complained that I was paying Social Security taxes into a “dead” person’s account. I would have thought they or the IRS would have at least inquired whether I had made a typographical error on my tax forms.

As a naval officer, I had security clearances from 1983 to 1999. To this day, I am amazed my home and office were not stormed and searched.

Within a few weeks of contacting Social Security, I got a signed letter of apology that officially “resurrected” me. Hallelujah.

Luckily for my wife and children, I had not really died prior to 1994. If I had, she would have been told upon applying for Social Security widow’s and orphans’ benefits that she had been married to an impostor who had used a dead person’s Social Security Number.

My credit reports now reflects that I am alive once again. Next time you get your credit report, double-check it to make sure you’re alive.

Cmdr. WAYNE L. JOHNSON

Judge Advocate General’s Corps, U.S. Navy (retired)

Alexandria, Virginia