"Son of Hussein" Can't get a mortgage

On August 10, after his family was refused a home loan, an Arcata man was mortified to find the phrase “son of Saddam Hussein” included on his credit report.

“I looked at it and couldn’t believe my eyes!” Said the Arcata man who asked that only his middle name, Hassan, be divulged.

The routine credit check, pulled by the Arcata family’s prospective mortgage company, lists the alleged alias under the section titled “Borrower Bureau Alert Information:”

“HASSAN ALIASES: AL-TIKRITI, ALI SADDAM HU.S.SEIN DOB: 1980 ALT (ALTERNATE) DOB: 1983; POB: IRAQ; NATL: IRAQI; SON OF SADDAM HU.S.SEIN AL-TIKRITI…”

A partial name match to the individual listed on the Arcata man’s credit report, “Hassan” is the man’s middle name, but any likeness to the description of Hussein’s son ends there.

“It was almost surreal, why just because of my middle name, it’s not even similar, it’s out of total ignorance,” said Hassan, who explained the alleged alias is full of discrepancies: Hassan who was born in the U.S. in the 1940s, is not of Iraqi descent and has never had contact with nor visited the Middle East, believes his middle name is the only possible basis for the information listed on his credit report.

“I ran home to show my wife and called the FBI, and attempted to make a police report for fear of stolen identity. The police officer indicated this was part of the patriot act or “big brother” and filing a police report would resolve nothing at this point,” said Hassan who indicated the situation has put the family’s plan to purchase a home on hold as they attempt to resolve the situation. The family explained may even loose a chance at Arcata’s first-time homebuyer’s program if they can’t get a loan for the balance in the next few months.

“I am so tired of constantly having a sense that we are not good enough to co-exist with others on this Earth; that everything is extra hard and an extra struggle for us and I am guilty of letting some fear dictate to me when I wake up in the wee morning hours reflecting on the hate in peoples eyes and fear they will target our family,” said Hassan’s wife.