supplying your social security number when paying

[Jeff Beaver]

I was asked for the ssn when I put down the deposit, but got to thinking about it and protested that I would be paying with a cashier's check. When I said that, they started gushing apologies and used a felt tip pen to black out every instance of the ssn on their forms. The sales woman even called me the next day to assure me that they had no record of my ssn. I live in California, by the way, which could make a difference.

Jeff

[Schmika]

Originally posted by Godiva@Feb 8 2006, 10:18 PM
<SNIP>  I told him no. (I've heard some dealers not only run credit checks but run several of them. Every time a credit check is run it LOWERS your credit rating. That puts you in a weak position if they finance you.)<SNIP>

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Myth...just checking on your credit and getting your score does NOTHING to your score.

[Godiva]

Originally posted by Schmika@Feb 10 2006, 02:49 PM
Myth...just checking on your credit and getting your score does NOTHING to your score.

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It does if it's done multiple times. I got this from a mortgage broker who had nothing to do with financing my car or my house.

[HokieHybrid]

Originally posted by Schmika@Feb 10 2006, 02:49 PM
Myth...just checking on your credit and getting your score does NOTHING to your score.

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From http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/scoring.htm
"Have you applied for new credit recently? Many scoring models consider whether you have applied for credit recently by looking at “inquiries” on your credit report when you apply for credit. If you have applied for too many new accounts recently, that may negatively affect your score. However, not all inquiries are counted. Inquiries by creditors who are monitoring your account or looking at credit reports to make “prescreened” credit offers are not counted."

I strongly recommend reading the contents of that site, and getting your free credit report each year to make sure there are no errors.

[DaveinOlyWA]

Originally posted by Godiva@Feb 10 2006, 01:37 PM
It does if it's done multiple times. I got this from a mortgage broker who had nothing to do with financing my car or my house.

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your mortgage broker is full of it.

HOWEVER, his reasoning for saying that is rather transparent. multiple inquiries on your credit status usually indicates the person is getting ready to make a major purchase which WILL most likely change his or her credit rating by changing their debt load.

credit ratings are updated every month or so. about 30 days after the flood of inquiries, if no purchase or change has been made...

then no harm done...not one iota.

my advice... get another broker. if he cant give you any better information than that...RUN AWAY!!

[Subversive]

Originally posted by DaveinOlyWA@Feb 11 2006, 12:10 PM
credit ratings are updated every month or so. about 30 days after the flood of inquiries, if no purchase or change has been made...

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1. I do believe it's longer than 30 days. 2. It doesn't matter how long the dip in your credit rating stays, it only matters whether it is around when you are trying to close the deal with someone who has not yet run your credit report.

I made the mistake, when buying my house, of signing up at Lending Tree for one of those free loan quote services. My credit report was run twenty times by different companies and my credit score dropped to the floor. Fortunately I already had already approached a mortage company for the primary mortgage and they were able to use the credit report they pulled before all that happened. Unfortunately, they had to use the newer, lower credit score to determinte the terms of my second mortgage. And I called several different companies--once those credit reports were pulled, no other company was willing to deal with me at all. Sure, after six months all would be golden again. But I already found the house I wanted, and I needed a place to live.

[Subversive]

A good suggestion at http://www.carbuyingtips.com/ was that while doing a test drive, DON'T leave your driver's license with them. Because they will only use it to run your credit score without telling you. Instead, bring a photocopy of your license with you, an clearly mark on the photocopy that no permission to run your credit score is granted and that running a credit score without someone's permission is subject to a $5,000 fine (the exact statute is listed somewhere on the web site).

Of course, when starting this thread, you were talking about providing information while paying. So this comment does not really apply to that.

[hobbit]

Unless there is a tax implication [such as deductible interest that
must be reported] or other statute-driven procedure [like most
motor vehicle registries insist on grabbing your SSN anyways], there
is NO reason for a dealer to need your SSN and I think it may even
be illegal for them to ask for it in the case of full payment. It's
just one more of a thousand ways that corporations raid your privacy,
and stuff far too much information about you into vulnerable,
internet-connected databases, which invariably get plundered and
fed into the burgeoning identity-theft market. There's no question
about how bad that's gotten.
.
Go out of your way to keep your SSN and any other data they don't
need away from these clowns. They're part of the problem.
.
_H*

[roach52osu]

It is perhaps a security measure as well... Working for a bank I can say that cashiers checks are no longer trust worthy. Although you got it from a financial institution and know it is good (and it is) they are more likely to be couterfit than a personal check thus making it a higher probability for fraud to the dealer than if they did their own financing for you. If they have your social it is easier to track you down as well as to file charges since they have more documentation about you. Sounds paranoid but you would be astounded how many couterfit cashiers checks I see a month used to defraud unsuspecting customers and businesses.

Just my thoughts.

[darelldd]

Same here in CA. The *require* SSN unless you pay with green cash.