Dealing with Proof of Identity and Second Last Names

Q Some of our applicants, especially those from Puerto Rico, have a second last name on their birth certificate that isn’t on their Social Security card. How should this scenario be handled?

A The only time this becomes a big problem with affordable housing residents is at move-in, when their information is transmitted to HUD’s Tenant Rental Assistance Certification System (TRACS), says HUD compliance expert Mark Chrzanowski. The Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system gets its information from TRACS, and if the information provided on HUD Form 50059 doesn’t match the information that the Social Security Administration (SSA) has on file, it causes a failed verification in EIV.

In general, Chrzanowski tells his managers to enter the name on HUD-50059 the way it’s displayed on the Social Security Number (SSN) verification. If there’s a big difference in the identity verification and the SSN verification—for example, one says Smith and the other Jones—his company asks applicants to contact SSA and get a verification in the correct name.

Chrzanowski points out that the same thing can happen when residents get married and change their name. His company doesn’t make the change on a HUD-50059 until the resident has made the change with SSA.

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