<p>Everybody asks for it. At the doctor’s office, schools, even when buying a cell phone. Is there any way around it? There have been some instances where I have stood my ground, and offered any other I.D. they want. But it does not always work for me. I cannot order new cell phones without giving my SSN out. Why can’t it be made illegal to ask for that particular information.
Any suggestions? Or should I just stop being so paranoid?</p>
<p>No, there is good reason to be paranoid. My husband always asks ‘Is there a reason I should give my SSN?’. Especially for getting on a new cell phone plan, there is no reason to give the SSN. And the cell phone companies are pretty desperate these days because the business is competitive. It makes sense to ask every time if SSN is needed. Schools I can understand and hopefully conmen/conwomen don’t work there. Hopefully. But doctor’s offices, other places, there is good reason to ask.</p>
<p>And I never carry my SS card around in my wallet. Never. I have mine, my son’s and my husband’s numbers memorized…</p>
<p>For Cingular, you do have to give your ss#. My son’s cell phone plan is under my name, and he was buying a new phone and migrating from ATT to Cingular (after they merged) in another state. He called me ask for my ss#, because they told him the needed it. I was suspicious and called Cingular customer service and confirmed that you do need to provide this information. It seems unnecessary though.</p>
<p>When I went to New Orleans a few years ago, my wallet was stolen from my purse. I lost credit cards, my license, (had to get a police report to explain that since I no longer had ID for the flight home) dollars etc. If I had my SS in there I was told they could have opened new credit cards. Fortunately the thief was stupid and couldnt figure out how to use my debit card and ended up trying to charge a dollars worth of gas (I guess as a test). The card was my money market card and linked to my money market (where I keep more cash than checking) He could have cleaned out the account, but he didn’t know how to use it! So though its insured as soon as I got home, I changed it so I no longer have my money market card as a debit card…just my checking.
I canceled the credit cards before he got a chance to use them. I lost all the cash in my wallet which was quite a bit…(normally I would not have had that much cash but we were there unexpectedly after running into some people)
Anyway a wonderful restauranteer treated us to a great meal and that made up for it.
Thank goodness I did not have my Social there.</p>
<p>At D’s college they are still using social for ID numbers but they are phasing it out.</p>
<p>One of my friends was recently a victim of identity theft. Someone charged several thousand dollars worth of merchandise at target.com on one of her credit cards.</p>
<p>SSNs are used for credit checks and yeah, agree there should be other options, but does anyone know what they are? The State of VA had them on operators licenses until just a few years ago, and so did larger universities.</p>
<p>I had my wallet stolen several years ago, too, and reported it quickly to the three credit bureaus, in case anyone tried to open accounts in my name. The problem is, my health insurance card, which was in my wallet, uses my ss# as my ID #. The thieves did use my credit card but apparently did not try to use my ss # to steal my identity.</p>
<p>motheroftwo, you make a good point about reporting thefts to the credit bureaus. A lot of people neglect to do this. </p>
<p>angst, how would the thief have been able to use your debit card without your PIN? Also curious how someone would have charged thousands of dollars at Target on someone else’s credit card. Had the card been stolen and not reported?</p>
<p>angstridden, whenever you use a debit or credit card at a gas station, a $1 charge is sent through to see if the account is open…looks like it was just this charge and the thief didn’t actually get anything :). this auth check is also pretty common on websites where fraud can be a problem, for example, ebay/half charges a $1 fee (which is credited, i believe) if you try to use a new credit card.</p>
<p>Your member # on many BS/BC cards is your SS#. Many forget that.</p>
<p>My H had to give out his ss# for a credit check when our son was applying to rent an apartment. What else can you do?</p>
<p>I’m moving to NYC and have had to give out my SS# too often recently for credit checks for apartments–I was weary of this but if you don’t give it, you don’t get an apartment; I had to give it out twice–once for the place I ultimately got and once for a place that fell through–now its out there for no good reason and I have no reason to trust brokers or anyone working for property mgmt companies.</p>
<p>I’m going to need a new cell phone in NY–does anyone know of any company that doesn’t require an SS#? I’m already not getting Cingular due to problems with service.</p>
<p>Any time I’ve refused to give my SS# or asked why they needed it, people always respond ‘we have to have it or else you can’t get whatever…’ Its never worked for me to refuse.</p>
<p>From the cingular website:</p>
<p>
<a href=“https://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/checkout/ssn_info.jsp[/url]”>https://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/checkout/ssn_info.jsp</a></p>
<p>My Aetna health insurance card has my SSN embossed on it, as my account number. So it’s bad enough that you have to give it out, but then for them to turn around and use it for another ID#!! Hopefully I don’t get robbed by a smart thief, caus i certainly carry my Aetna card everywhere.</p>