We have encountered a scenario, in which a customer contacted a CSR to bump an interest rate and the account was opened in Aug. of 1992, but running ID verification programs show "our customer" as being deceased on 09/1987. Also the WA State Archives show the same death date connected to the SS#. The supposed customer entered our bank yesterday for a WD. Has anyone encountered the same issue? What would be the next steps in verifying the customer?

I'd recommend challenging this "customer's" identity. If he or she is using the identity -- including the SSN -- of a deceased person, you've got a problem. You'd start wondering about how this individual came to have funds or a check in the decedent's name (assuming that's how your account was opened) back in 1992.

If this is an older person, it is possible the husband & wife had the same SSN followed by an A or B. Perhaps one of them is deceased, but the other is still living?

Actually, no two people have the same social security number (except for a few alleged foul-ups by the Social Security Administration).

It's not uncommon for one spouse to file for Medicare under the other spouse's social security number, and in such a case a letter would designate whether the Medicare claim is for spouse A or spouse B. But SSNs don't have alpha characters.

We have received Social Security direct deposits to spouses with the same SSN, followed by an A & B. I was told that many years ago, if the wife did not work, the Social Security administration assigned her husband's number to her followed by a B. I do not have any written documentation, but I have seen several of the direct deposits that came in this way.

The letter that follows the nine-digit SSN is a designation for the type of claim under which payments are made. A "B" indicates that a wife is claiming under her husband's social security wage record. A "B1" indicates that a husband is claiming under his wife's record. An "A" indicates a wage-earner claiming on his/her own record. Take a look at the SSA's page with this info.