Living Without a SSN

by Lucky225

In mid November of 1936 when the first Social Security Numbers (SSN) were issued, they were never meant to be thought of as a form of identification.  Today however every major corporation in the U.S. requests this number from consumers for identification and to run credit checks, or so they claim.  Utility companies including gas, electric, telephone, and cable TV companies all request this information, your bank, your credit card issuers, and pretty much anyone else you can think of.  You being the law abiding citizen you are in this country might assume there is some law or statute that requires these corporations to obtain this information before providing you with their services, however there is generally no statute provided that requires these companies to obtain that information for any reason.

With identity theft becoming the fastest growing crime in this country, 1 in 20 consumers were a victim of credit card theft last year and it is predicted that about 750,000 people a year may become a victim of identity theft, most corporations insist that they require a SSN to validate who you are.  However, if you look at it from a different angle, you might notice that this requirement is exactly what makes identity theft so easy.  Think about it, utility services, bank, credit card accounts, cell phone activations, all this can be done over the phone or the Internet needing only a persons name and SSN and some other easy-to-find information like a birthday.  All this is done without providing any photo identification at all and can be done completely anonymously using P.O. boxes or private mailboxes.  With that said, think about all the places you've given your SSN too, think about all the computer databases holding that information right now.  Think about the fact that there may be untrustworthy employee at TransUnion staring at your credit report with your information on it right now and you'd have no way of knowing.  To give a prime example of this, let me tell you about a story that happened with my mom.  One day my mom decided to buy a cellphone from a kiosk inside Sam's Club.  The kiosk was for Verizon Wireless.  Two years passed by and we received a notice from Cingular Wireless about unpaid cellular service, even though we have never had any cellphones with Cingular Wireless.  After an investigation, it was determined that the cellphone was activated the same day she had signed up for her cellphone with Verizon, it is unclear who set up the cellular service, but anyone who was able to take a glance at the paper application that had my mom's SSN on it could have quickly wrote that information down and then set up service in her name.

Keeping all of this in mind, I have recently become a privacy advocate.  The Office of Privacy Protection in California has declared that the SSN is a unique privacy risk because no other identifier plays such a significant role in linking records that contain sensitive information that individuals generally wish to keep confidential.  Because the SSN is such a privacy risk, I do not reveal it to any portion of the private sector.  By not giving out your SSN you can actually help prevent identity theft, because most companies will require you to show picture identification and other material if you do not supply a SSN ensuring that you are the person you claim to be, and because no SSN is ever recorded by the company anyone who looks at your account information on the company's customer database will not be able to use your information to obtain credit or services in your name.  Luckily, I live in California, here the CPUC has ruled that all utility companies (excluding cellular unfortunately), can not deny you service simply for lack of a SSN or refusing to provide it, however the utility company may require a deposit if you do not supply this information, you will get the deposit back however.

By making it a policy not to provide your SSN to any private organization, you will come across some things that may not be convenient for you.  Since I have started this policy no utility company has ever obtained my SSN, however when it comes to credit everyone wants your SSN.  I had a bank account for about a year when they offered me a unsecured credit card.  I figured I'd apply for it, but leave my SSN off the application.  About a month later I got the credit card.  It informed me that I had to call from "my home phone number" to activate the card.  I had forgot which phone number I wrote on the application, so I called customer service on the back of the card to ask them.  The representative informed me that it was not necessary to call from my home phone number, that she could activate the card over the phone - all I had to do was verify my SSN.  I informed her that the only reason I applied for credit was because the person at my bank's branch let me apply without writing in my SSN.  She informed me that the SSN had been retrieved through the application process from my bank account information.  I informed her that I had not consented to this and that I would not activate the card unless the SSN was removed from the account.  She actually agreed to remove it for me after verifying some other information and adding a password to the account.  I then went to the bank and closed my checking account.  I have since been using a stored value card that does not require you to provide a SSN, my paycheck is direct deposited on to the card and it works just like a check card.  You can get a card from www.netspend.com.  There are other cards out there that allow you to add funds from Western Union or MoneyGram locations for a fee, but they ask for SSN, though sometimes they don't verify it.

Anyhow, the downside to stored value cards is there is no way to deposit a check into the account.  I recently received a check from my insurance company for about $2800 issued from Bank of America, and it took me three Bank of America's and talking to several branch managers before I found one who would cash my check for me, the other two banks told me the check was "over their limit" for non-customers.  I advise you to try local bank branches to open up checking accounts without SSN.  The thing that bugs me is there is no law requiring a bank to obtain a SSN for non-interest bearing checking accounts, there is no interest being accrued thus they don't have to report to the IRS.  My bank wont even open an account for me using two forms of ID, one of which is the credit card issued by their bank!  Another thing that's hard to deal with is credit bureaus.  Once they have your SSN, it's pretty much there for life, however I did manage to social engineer TransUnion into removing my SSN claiming the one on file was inaccurate, and as a privacy advocate I do not give out my SSN, but under the Fair Credit and Reporting Act, they are required by law to remove inaccurate information.  They agreed to remove it "temporarily" as my SSN would be reported to them by my creditors they claimed, little did they know my creditors don't know what my SSN is and so I now have credit and a credit report with no SSN attached to it!

As I mentioned, California's CPUC does not regulate cellular companies, so it is difficult to obtain a cellphone without an SSN because almost every carrier requires this information to "run a credit check" - or so they claim.  I did, however, convince an AT&T Wireless salesperson to run my credit using the SSN 000-00-0000 and I got approved, and the inquiry showed up on my TransUnion report.  So it is possible to get a cellphone through AT&T Wireless without a SSN, though it may be hard to convince the salesperson that they don't need your SSN to run credit.

;The best approach when applying for credit or services is to claim you do not have a SSN.  If you want move to Maryland and get a driver license there, they don't even require SSN for driver license or identification cards!  Carry around your Maryland license and claim you have never applied for a Social Security card because there is no law requiring you to do so.  I carry around a copy of my TransUnion credit report showing there is no SSN and a letter from my bank stating there is no SSN on my credit card account and it usually helps assist me when I apply for services or credit at places that claim to require a SSN.  It's fun to see people's reactions when I tell them I'm a privacy advocate and do not give out my SSN, but I can provide two forms of ID, one being a credit card, and then to see the look on their face when they ask how I got a credit card without a SSN as I hand them my letter stating there is no SSN on my credit card along with my TransUnion credit report for further proof.

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Update:

** In 2600 Magazine I made references about obtaining a driver license in Oregon without a SSN, however as of January 1, 2004 you can no longer obtain a driver license in Oregon without providing a SSN, they have passed legislation to comply with 42 USC 666 (ironically), however you can still obtain an identification card in this state without supplying SSN, to date the only confirmed state that still lets you apply for a driver license without a SSN is Maryland. **

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