My Social Security number, I mean; I was never a member of the SS.
I signed up for a new calling plan, and Verizon said they had to issue me a new cell-phone number, too, and that they needed my SS number to run a credit-check before they could start billing me. I questioned them on it and they said it was necessary; so, with great reservations, I gave it to 'em.
I’ve never had to give my SS number to sign up for anything or buy anything—what do you guys think? Should I have said “nerts!” and walked out? Is Vinnie Verizon out there right now buying cars and minks with my identity?
Nobody ever told me it was supposed to be a secret. Whenever I’ve filled out forms or signed up for stuff, people have asked me for it and I gave it to them. I figure my SS#'s out there in hundreds and hundreds of places by now, and if somebody wants it, asking me for the information is probably the slowest way they could get it.
Keeping your SSN private is crucial to preventing identity theft. Crooks are lazy. That they can buy a $6 CD with the complete id info on 30 million Americans from the US government is just something they wouldn’t take the time to learn. But, if they have a friend working for a company that uses clients’ SSNs as record ids, that they’ll jump on.
There is in fact a Federal law that clearly delimits who can ask for your SSN. It’s pretty much limited to things that relate to employment, investments and such. I.e., things that could tie into taxes or SS benefits.
I used to know the law down to section and paragraph and found that no one cared in the least that they were breaking the law! “But that’s a violation of US law xxx.yyy.zzz.” “But we’ve always done it that way.” “You don’t care about breaking US law?” “But we’ve always done it that way.”
Because of the blatant violation of this law, a newer law has been passed to try and make it even clearer who can/cannot ask for your SSN. My recent encounters with health care providers have included new forms and member numbers being assigned to comply with the law before it comes into effect.
Verizon has absolutely, positively no business asking for your SSN. It is true that credit agencies still use them, but they are supposed to stop that in the near future. (If fact, they were supposed to never have used them in the first place.)
But alas, knowing the US law chapter and verse gets you nowhere with a low level customer service droid.
You shouldn’t need a new phone number or a credit check just to change calling plans with your provider. Did you already have service through Verizon?
Based on your description, I think Vinnie Verizon just chalked up a sweet commission on a new service activation for a “new customer” (you) instead of just doing the “no charge” plan change for an existing customer that he should have. The sales guys in cellular storefronts have a bad habit of trying to pull this crap on unsuspecting customers - one at AT&T tried it on my mother when she wanted to take advantage of an equipment upgrade she was offered in the mail. She had to talk to the kid’s manager in order to leave the store with a new phone and her old number and rate plan. Sounds like you got a variation on this…
I don’t have any idea why Verizon would need a credit check on you, but I work for a pre-employment background screening company and the only thing we must have for credit checks is by social security number. If we don’t have that we can’t check the credit report.
Actually, I am a new customer—before this, I had just been using pre-paid minutes cards. So this was the first time I signed up for them with an actual account.
But now I am miffed about the whole SS number-checking, and the credit listing, too—I mean, my cable company, my newspaper, never ran a credit check on me!
But pig-headed persistence often does. I’ll give 'em my favorite color, my mother’s maiden name, even the date of my last period if they insist, but if pester me for my SS# I tell them, very sweetly, to get bent.
So far, they [the phone company, electric/water/gas company, doctor’s office] always manage to work their way around me.
I used to work for a phone company and we would run credit checks on every new customer using SSN. If the customer refused to give us the SSN we could run it using name and address, and once we had the report we then would have the SSN because it’s on the credit report.
I hate giving out my SSN because 99 times out of 100 it’s unnecessary.
The cable company and the newspaper generally don’t get screwed by deadbeats to the same extent cell phone companies do, Eve. They’ll check to see if you currently owe them money, but that’s usually the extent of it. You don’t pay your cable bill for a month or two, they’re out a set amount, usually less $100. With a cell phone, though, I’ve heard of bills up to $800 in a single month. It doesn’t take too many people skipping out on bills like that to put a huge dent in your profits, so cell phone companies do credit checks. People with a history of not paying their bills have to put down fairly large security deposits to get cell phone service. You’re within your rights to refuse the credit check, but they’re also within their rights to refuse you service without the credit check.
In that case, it sounds like they did what every cell phone provider does to sign a new customer up - CrazyCatLady hit it on the head. Cell phone companies have very narrow profit margins so they tend to do pretty tough credit checks to make sure new customers will actually pay their bills - so despite the annoyance factor, there was nothing out of the ordinary…
Now, from this point onward, your phone number is yours. Period. You shouldn’t have to get a new one unless you change providers, and recent developments have made that an unusual circumstance now. So changing rate plans or upgrading to better equipment should not involve a credit check or new number or anything of the sort from your provider.
I feel your pain, I jsut recently got a new apartment, and for the first time ever have to sign up for cable, electricity, phone line, internet, etc…, and what do all the companies want? My SSN. Of course, I am one of those people who generaly doesn’t care. Just about the only thing they can do with JUST my SSN is get a job and pay taxes in my name (or, I suppose, NOT pay them, which would probably be why they would use a stolen SSN.) But it honestly wouldn’t be that hard to prove that no, I couldn’t have been working as a line cook in CA not paying taxes when I am clearly working as a biomedial technincian in NY paying taxes.
The thing I don’t give out offhand is my credit card number. Of course, even that has fraud protection and no liability for purchases made with a stolen number, so really there’s nothing to worry about. At least that’s what I tell myself so I don’t become paranoid.
I gave Verizon my SSN when I finally broke down and got a cell phone last month. If it’s any comfort at all, I haven’t had my identity stolen yet. Then again, the nice young man at my local Radio Shack would never do something like that, I’m sure.
On the bright side, Eve, now we can call each other for free! I’m sure you’ll want to take advantage of that opportunity as soon as humanly possible.
This is a great time to mention my favorite instance of an SSN being asked for:
There is a golf video game (Links?) that is linked through the 'Net (or some other computerized method) to other copies throughout the nation, and is thus used for nationwide tournaments. You can win actual prizes, including cash, I believe, through this game, but to be eligible you have to - of course - give your SSN, and I’m almost certain you need to do so THROUGH THE MACHINE!
I’m astonished that this game gets any entrants at all into its prize tournaments. Who in their right mind would give their SSN to a video game?
