Do name changes actually work? Even if you closed your accounts with every company you do business with, your persistent identifiers (eg. SSN, DL number) would stay the same, so I'd imagine it's trivial for credit reporting agencies to link back to your old name. Not to mention, if your social graph is compromised (eg. your friend enabled contacts upload to facebook), then it's very easy to infer that the guy who dropped off the radar 6 months ago is the same person who appeared out of thin air 6.5 months later.