Mom’s name was Mary Ann. Mine has several of the same letters, in the same order. The judgment was issued in a third name, which was neither of ours but also had some of the same letters, in the same order. The credit reporting agencies decided it must be my debt, since it was one name instead of two, even though I’d never lived at that address until after the judgment was obtained (I was in law school in Michigan at the time).

When I was notified of this (by the bar admission folks in Connecticut, who said they couldn’t approve my application because I’d lied on the question that said I had never had a judgment against me), I pulled my credit report and discovered that somehow, Mom’s credit and mine had been tangled up for YEARS. Like, long before I had any credit history at all. There was a G.Fox card on my account, but I’d not only never had a G. Fox card, I didn’t get my first credit card until after G. Fox had become Filene’s. Ditto with Sage Allen.

Interestingly, none of my stuff made it onto Mom’s. I think they had issues with her having two first names, and just picked the closest approximation at the same address.

Also, some of my bills for my actual, acknowledged accounts got routed to my brother, who has the same first initial. He was going through officer training and then onto Germany, so from time to time, I’d get a bill with postmarks from DC, Ft. Leonard Wood, and Germany, along with multiple forwarding orders.

The bills from the pediatrician are sent to me Myfirstname Sonslastname, even though they have all our three different correct names on file.

At least all the insurance messed up was his date of coverage.

When I was a child, my insurance card said I was male; it took my mother multiple tries to get it fixed.