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Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Old Feb 10th 2010, 4:08 am
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Default Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

When we first moved here, I had no SSN nor had my GC arrive yet, but we were still able to rent an apartment, based on my UK ID and my spouse's USA ID.

Now, we are wanting to move and will be looking only at private homes this time as apartments aren't working for us.

I have concerns about giving out our SSNs, willy nilly, to potential private landlords, without knowing who they really are and besides, who's to say that they won't pass on or steal our identities whether we rent from them or not?

I recoil at the thought of writing SSNs down on paper application/data forms, the destiny of which and for whose eyes is unknown.
I also refuse to write down or provide my SSN on forms for the dentist and optician, since they don't really need it but asking for it has become endemic.

I think rental agencies have some kind of safeguards in place to stop the staff/owners from carrying out nefarious acts, stealing ID's, etc., but what can we do to protect ourselves when dealing with private individuals?

I am wondering of there is, perhaps, a website out there where rental applications can be made, fully secure, and in which the landlord and tenant can enter and use the data but which obscures certain bits of info from either party?

Last edited by Sonic5; Feb 10th 2010 at 4:11 am.
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 5:17 am
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

While I sympathize with your aversion to giving out your social security number to all and sundry (much as I abhor the universal practice of using a driving license as a form of identification instead of just proof that you are licensed to drive) you are just making life difficult for yourself.

I certainly hope that you don't imagine that your social security number is a big secret known only to you, your employer, your bank, your credit card companies, the social security administration, the IRS etc etc ...
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 11:00 am
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by md95065
I certainly hope that you don't imagine that your social security number is a big secret known only to you, your employer, your bank, your credit card companies, the social security administration, the IRS etc etc ...
But all these are institutions who are required, by law, to have a duty of care with your information and to keeping it secure, plus there is recourse against them if things go wrong.

Individuals, AFAIK, do not have this same requirement nor are you likely to be able to prove the source of the information leak.

I am not averse to giving out my details - just who to.
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 12:59 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Have to agree with MD. Unfortunately, you may find yourself banging your head against a brick wall. A lot of landlords want to do a credit check to protect themselves from a bad tenant (I'm not saying I agree with it, but it is an indicator of your history), and if you refuse to hand over your SSN then you will just have to move on until you find a landlord who doesn't require it.
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 3:19 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by sunflwrgrl13
Have to agree with MD. Unfortunately, you may find yourself banging your head against a brick wall. A lot of landlords want to do a credit check to protect themselves from a bad tenant (I'm not saying I agree with it, but it is an indicator of your history), and if you refuse to hand over your SSN then you will just have to move on until you find a landlord who doesn't require it.
OK but I am right in thinking that there is a greater chance of having our identities stolen with a private landlord?
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 3:43 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by Sonic5
OK but I am right in thinking that there is a greater chance of having our identities stolen with a private landlord?
No idea what your reasoning behind this is.
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 3:45 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by Sonic5
OK but I am right in thinking that there is a greater chance of having our identities stolen with a private landlord?
Why don't you print out a copy of your credit report (dated and just relevant info) so you can show any future landlord that you have a decent score/history?
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 4:42 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

If you are really concerned about your identity etc, then once you have found a place to rent put a freeze on our credit.

We got broken into last year, ALL our ID stuff stolen, so since then we have had our credit frozen and just unfreeze it as and when we know we are going to be needing credit. It is REALLY simple, and I think it is like $10.00 to do it, for us it was free as we had a police report.

AND it works, we tried to review our car insurance the other day and they couldn't look at our credit file as we had a freeze on it, but 10mins after going on line and un-freezing it we were good to go. You freeze it for a certain amount of days and then it automatically goes back on.

Anyway this totally gets rid of any worry that people can fraudulently use your SSN to gain credit. I know they could do it whilst it is in an "unfrozen" period, but then that would be truly unlucky and you really can't worry about ALL this stuff and the "what if's" etc...
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 6:12 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by fatbrit
No idea what your reasoning behind this is.
Apologies,
What I wanted to ask is: are our identities at greater risk with a private person than an organization?
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 6:13 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by Englishtart
Why don't you print out a copy of your credit report (dated and just relevant info) so you can show any future landlord that you have a decent score/history?
Do you have evidence that landlords would accept that, without them taking a copy?
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 6:16 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by Burn1911
If you are really concerned about your identity etc, then once you have found a place to rent put a freeze on our credit.

We got broken into last year, ALL our ID stuff stolen, so since then we have had our credit frozen and just unfreeze it as and when we know we are going to be needing credit. It is REALLY simple, and I think it is like $10.00 to do it, for us it was free as we had a police report.

AND it works, we tried to review our car insurance the other day and they couldn't look at our credit file as we had a freeze on it, but 10mins after going on line and un-freezing it we were good to go. You freeze it for a certain amount of days and then it automatically goes back on.

Anyway this totally gets rid of any worry that people can fraudulently use your SSN to gain credit. I know they could do it whilst it is in an "unfrozen" period, but then that would be truly unlucky and you really can't worry about ALL this stuff and the "what if's" etc...

Thank you for your suggestion which seems like a solution that would work
(although I greatly resent having to pay anything to freeze/unfreeze perpetually - why should the innocent pay? )
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 6:42 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by Sonic5
Do you have evidence that landlords would accept that, without them taking a copy?
evidence? All I can say is that we did this in CO when we rented an apartment, we had no problem. Can't guarantee that it will work everywhere though....it was just a suggestion
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 6:43 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by Sonic5
Do you have evidence that landlords would accept that, without them taking a copy?
No. They won't accept a copy of anything. If they require a credit check then they're going to run your credit themselves - not take a copy of something you could have doctored.
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 6:45 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by Leslie66
No. They won't accept a copy of anything. If they require a credit check then they're going to run your credit themselves - not take a copy of something you could have doctored.
We didn't have a problem with it, but maybe it helped that hubby was AD military at the time
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Old Feb 10th 2010, 7:03 pm
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Default Re: Renting & giving out your SSN/DOB, etc

Originally Posted by Englishtart
evidence? All I can say is that we did this in CO when we rented an apartment, we had no problem. Can't guarantee that it will work everywhere though....it was just a suggestion
And they never actually ran your credit? Ever?
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