More on Crappy Credit Reports
In October, 2006, I commented on the story of a man in Acarta, California whose credit report bizarrely includes a claim he’s the son of Saddam Hussein. (“The Crap in Credit Reports“) Now, via Educated Guesswork, “If OBL can buy a used car, the terrorists have won” we learn of a fellow who can’t buy a car in northern California:
Tom Kubbany is neither a terrorist nor a drug trafficker, has average credit and has owned homes in the past, so the Northern California mental-health worker was baffled when his mortgage broker said lenders were not interested in him. Reviewing his loan file, he discovered something shocking. At the top of his credit report was an OFAC alert provided by credit bureau TransUnion that showed that his middle name, Hassan, is an alias for Ali Saddam Hussein, purportedly a “son of Saddam Hussein.”
Sounds like the same guy, unable to solve his problem. From Free Internet Press, “Private Businesses Flag Ordinary Customers As Terrorists.” Different first and last names. Different years and days of birth. Different countries of birth. Should TransUnion be held accountable for inserting that OFAC alert? When?
The Office of Foreign Asset Control maintains the list and businesses are liable for doing business with people on the list. Now whether they are applying the list correctly or if the list is useless is an interesting question.
Assuming that OBL has not been brought before a court of law, charged, tried and incarcerated … and thus hasn’t been stripped of his rights to free trade … then perhaps one should say:
A far better response to terrorism is to simply put in place better reporting, and not ban activity. Elsewise you hand your enemy a great weapon: a way to get you to harm yourself.
Just an opinion on how terrorism works… IANAT — I am not a terrorist 🙂
A friend of mine named Hasan called this nomenclature eugenics.