Man Named 'God' Sues Credit Rating Company Equifax Over Name Dispute
A New York man is suing the credit rating agency Equifax, accusing the company of giving him a false rating score due to his first name, "God."
God Gazarov, a 26-year-old resident of Brooklyn, New York and owner of the Gold Hard Cash jewelry store in Brighton Beach, filed his lawsuit in Brooklyn's federal court on Friday. The lawsuit alleges that Gazarov has been fighting with Equifax for the past 2 years regarding his first name, "God."
The credit rating company has reportedly recorded Gazarov as having no credit history because its system does not recognize his first name as a legitimate name. Although the 26-year-old graduate of Brooklyn College has received high credit ratings from other companies like TransUnion and Experian, the conflict with Equifax has prevented him from purchasing an Infiniti car or showing lenders that he has a good credit score.
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"It's extremely frustrating," Gazarov told the New York Post. "I worked hard to get good credit to look good to lenders and this happens."
According to NPR, Gazarov moved from Russia to the U.S. when he was three and recently became a naturalized citizen. He shares his first name with his grandfather. James Fishman, Gazarov's lawyer, told NPR via email that Equifax first suggested his client "change his first name as a solution" to their system error.
"Mr. Gazarov has had credit with Capital One, American Express and Discover for 2 years. He's paid his balance in full every month," Fishman said. When asked what it's like to represent "God," Gazarov's attorney told NPR that the experience has been "interesting" and he's received a lot of comments from his colleagues about the representation.
Fishman and his client are suing the credit reporting agency for damages, and they will ask a jury to decide how much they should receive.
Gazarov added to WCBS 880 that he sees no reason why he should have to change his first name. "It's on my passport, it's on my birth certificate. There's no need for me to change it. I never had a problem with it anywhere else."
"I'm a citizen here, I went to school here […] I'm established, I'm building my credit up, I pay all my bills on time."
Equifax released a statement saying it was looking into Gazarov's account to make the necessary changes.
"Equifax has processes in place to help ensure that businesses and individuals requesting access to credit are who they say they are. These processes flag standalone names that generally may not be associated with the valid openings of credit accounts. We are working with the consumer to make the necessary changes to his account."
