<p>My daughter has lived in a dorm the past two years. Next year she will move into an apartment. She gave us a copy of the rental agreement. It asks for her ss number and ours (as co-signers). I don’t feel comfortable with providing this information. Is there any reason they would need to have this?</p>
<p>Many landlords do some sort of a background check and a credit check for potential renters.</p>
<p>OP - I sympathize with your reluctance to share SSNs. But as BunsenBurner has pointed out, at least there’s a reason. DW’s health insurer used a minor variation of the SSN as its identifier, printed in large bold type on the card. And car dealers collect the SSN. Is there anything more patently ridiculous than providing Name, Address, and SSN to a used car salesman, even if you’re paying cash for the car and transferring plates from an existing car?</p>
<p>My understanding is that the only time you need to provide a social security number ever is when money is involved such as an interest bearing account,IRS and when you need credit. The rental agreement should include full disclosure what the number is being used for as maybe an escrow account for the security deposit, credit check, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Things have changed so much over the years! I remember back in the day when I worked as a cashier at a local store. We wrote the customer’s ss# on personal checks (copied from the driver’s license)! </p>
<p>I recall reading something not too long ago (but long enough for me to forget-lol) that stated there are very few times when a ss# is really necessary. I know I did not provide one when my daughter took the ACT or SAT. We opted for the student id number.</p>
<p>I believe if a rental company wants to run a background ck on you (which is reasonable) you have to sign something autrhorizing permission for them to do that. Personally, I would only give out my SSN when absolutely necessary. If a form asks for it I usually just leave it blank. Healthcare insurance, for the mostpart, no longer uses SSNs (except our dental Cobra- I hate that), so if a drs office requests it on their forms, I leave it blank. That said, in my office we ask for it ( in the rare instance we have to send a bill to collections, the collections co needs the SSN). I would never give my ssn to a car dealer. They have no reason to have it except that they may try to do a credit check on you while you are test driving the car. They can also do it with your drivers license, so if you dont want them to do that and they still require a copy of your DL, tell them specifically you are not authorizing a credit ck, and have them put it in writing. Too many credit cks can lower your credit score.</p>