CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it has corrected a processing glitch that linked U.S. Social Security numbers to those issued in three foreign countries.

The Associated Press reported in August on a problem involving numbers issued by the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic
of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau.

Some U.S. agencies treated them as if they were U.S. numbers when giving disaster loans and other aid to residents of the countries.

That can create headaches similar to identity theft because the numbers match some of those issued in Maine and New Hampshire.

The USDA said Friday that it has replaced all the numbers of affected borrowers in its loan processing system with new characters that don't match any U.S. numbers.