Social Security Death Index Access: Who is Allowed to Use This Crucial Information?

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is a very useful tool for genealogists, people that want to confirm someone’s decease, or even prevent identity crimes. It gathers data from the SSA and contains people with Social Security numbers who are reported deceased. However, the information in an SSDI is useful despite the fact that this information is a way private and controlled. In this article, the author discusses what the SSDI is for, to whom it is available, and with whom.

Overview

The SSDI is a database of death records of people who have been reported to the SSA. These records stretch from 1962 when the registry was established. The index must be maintained a high level in SSA operations and protect its programs from fraudulent or unauthorized use of a deceased’s SSN.

However, we should also remember that the SSDI only contains deaths which are reported to the SSA. This makes it clear that there is no record of all deaths in the U.S. Whenever a patient dies in the hospital, it may not get into the database.

Contents

The records in the Social Security Death Index are released three years after a person’s death and include the following details:

• First and Last Name
• Date of Birth
• Date of Death
• State or Territory Where the SSN Was Issued
• Residence at the Time of Death (which may differ from the place of death)

This information can be extremely useful to government organizations, financial institutions and to researchers. However, it is treated with high sensitivity to individuals’ privacy and therefore is not made public.

Access

The SSDI is not available to the general public. Its accessibility is limited and controlled. Here’s who can access it:

1. Federal and State Agencies: The SSA parts with other federal agencies under memorandums to ensure that what they interface is accurate especially bearing in mind that they are trying to establish the death of individuals and also try to fend off any fraudulent actions.
2. Private Organizations: The SSDI is also available for purchase by some private organizations, such as banks and credit institutions, and what they can buy is known as the Death Master File (DMF) from the Department of Commerce National Technical Information Service. Yet the DMF does not include specific death records by state to protect identities of individuals.

Public Access

The general public cannot investigate the SSDI or DMF but on some genealogical sites such as Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org; there might be SSDI records for historical or research purposes only. These versions could be less elaborate then the original documents agencies and institutions make use of.

Importance

The SSDI serves several critical purposes:

• Fraud Prevention: It also protects a person’s Social Security Numbers of the deceased from being used in frauds such as identity fraud or benefits frauds.
• Program Accuracy: It assists the SSA keep accurate records so that it can stop the pay of deceased clients and to avoid cases of over payment.
• Verification for Financial Institutions: Banks, insurers and credit agencies with some sort of clientele customer base that is fairly active utilize the Death Master File for the purposes of verification and validation of death claims, account closure and identification theft.

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Confidentiality

The privacy and confidentiality of its clientele, which are mainly individuals and or their families, is something that the SSA deems very important. That is why availability of the SSDI is strictly regulated and only certain recipients can utilize the information for lawful purposes only. The SSA, therefore, restrains the amount of information that anybody outside the organization can access while meeting the public’s right to information.

Final Thought

Consequently, the SSDI is equally useful in many industries ranging from genealogy to fighting fraud. Nevertheless, the utilization of the SSDI is controlled by certain privacies legislation and policies. The general public of course can look into the information in some certain situations but strictly has to follow the procedures outlined to avoid falling foul of the law or privacy invasion. For the purpose of this social issue research or in order to use this resource for protection of one’s identity, it is important to acknowledge who has access to the SSDI and under what circumstances.

FAQ’s