From: Lindsay Haisley <fmouse@fmp.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 11:58:00 +0800
To: Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: Credit Card might-as-well-equal SSN (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <199709110235.VAA13771@einstein.ssz.com>
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19970910223940.008e0100@linux.fmp.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



I was under the impression that using a SSN for identification purposes was
illegal.  A while back I went to a company that rented sound equipment to
pick up some equipment for a job, and was asked for my SSN as part of my
credit application.  I told them that I believed that it was illegal to
require an SSN and they said, in effect, if you want to rent from us, you
have to give us your SSN.  

When I got home, I called the Social Security Administration office in
Austin and after being bounced around among lots of people who knew
absolutely nothing about the subject, I finally reached someone who
informed me that this practice is perfectly legal as long as you're not
>required< to give your SSN.  Since I didn't, in theory, have to do
business with these folks, they therefore apparently had every right to
require my SSN as a condition of doing business with them.  In point of
fact, when the incident occurred, it was getting late, I had to have the
equipment for my job, and so I gave them what they wanted.

At 09:35 PM 9/10/97 -0500, Jim Choate did speak as follows....
>>Questions: Is this for real?  How wide spread is this?  What does U-Haul
do
>>with your SSN? How difficult is it for someone (company) to get your SSN
>>when you use your credit card?
>
>Did you ask if it was a U-Haul requirement or a Texas one?
>
>If you've ever given your SSN when applying for a credit card,
>you can be pretty sure they've got your SSN in the credit report.
>Perhaps if you've got a secured debit card of some sort
>you've been able to keep it separate from your other credit history,
>if any, but most people have slipped at least once, or had an account
>at a bank that collected the SSN for tax reasons and then included it
>in credit reports.

Lindsay Haisley                   (______)
FMP Computer Services               (oo)        "The bull 
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Austin, Texas, USA           / |    ||  
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