The 2 South Korean immigrants whose brand-new lives in America were tossed into mayhem after they were incorrectly designated the exact same Social Security number are getting some remedy for the federal government.
Less than a week after NBC News reported on their predicament, the Social Security Administration revealed that it will permit Jieun Kim of Los Angeles, 31, to keep the number that she was designated in 2018, and offer Jieun Kim, who resides in a Chicago suburban area and is likewise 31, a brand name brand-new number.
” I am thankful and relieved that the SSA has actually fixed the issue of having actually released one Social Security number to both people,” the L.A. Kim informed NBC News on Tuesday.
The Kim who lives beyond Chicago, in Evanston, stated she, too, was elated after speaking with the SSA.
” The very first idea that pertained to me was, ‘What a relief,'” she stated. “Finally, SSA as a federal government company is formally listening to me and taking my scenario seriously.”
Jeff Nesbit, a spokesperson for the Social Security Administration, validated that a person of the females will be designated a brand-new social security number which their individual info and earnings histories, which were as soon as integrated under the very same number, have actually now been separated.
” The firm moved rapidly to solve it once both cases were given our attention,” Nesbit stated. ” Part of the company’s objective is to solve cases such as this.”
The Chicagoland Kim, who is a doctoral trainee in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University and works there as a mentor assistant, stated she was getting ready for a class when she spoke with the director of the SSA workplace in Evanston, a lady she has actually handled previously.
” To be sincere when I got the phone and discovered that it was from the Social Security company, I sort of worried and even got a little frightened fearing that something failed,” she stated.
But the director called with the news that a brand-new Social Security card with a brand-new number had actually been provided and remained in the mail, in addition to a main description for the governmental snafu, she stated.
” Most of all, the director asked forgiveness to me on behalf of her company,” she stated.
The L.A. Kim stated she got no apology from the SSA, however she has actually gotten verification that she no longer shares her Social Security number with her name in Evanston. She stated her financial resources are still a mess and she’s attempting to get her permit application moving once again.
” I am not completely delighted due to the fact that I am still entrusted to needing to handle a lot of issues, consisting of concerns with the IRS, since of the SSA’s error,” she stated.
A spokesperson for Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., stated his Los Angeles workplace understands L.A. Kim’s scenario and all set to assist her.
Both females were born upon the very same day in South Korea, although in various cities.
Their issues started about 5 years earlier when they were both provided Social Security cards bearing the very same number.
L.A. Kim got hers on June 18,2018 Chicagoland Kim got her card a little over a month later on, on July 23, 2018.
They quickly discovered themselves competing with having their banking and cost savings accounts closed down and their charge card obstructed, and being presumed of identity theft. And it wasn’t till just recently that the 2 Kims understood they had actually been released the very same Social Security number by error.
The development came this month when L.A. Kim went to her Chase Bank branch to discover why her charge card had actually been canceled. There, she found that the Chicagoland Kim had, on Feb. 4, left her contact number at her Chase bank branch with guidelines for whomever was utilizing her Social Security number “to call her.”
Once the females recognized what had actually occurred, they stated they got pushback from the SSA when they attempted to encourage doubtful firm employees that they both had actually been released the very same number.
” I was ending up being so desperate and troubled,” the Chicagoland Kim stated. “There appeared to be no other way out of the mess. Simply one phone call from the director, and the main letter altered all that. It cleaned away all the jitters I had in dealing with the mess.”