You want my SS#??

Every doctor's office I visit, every retail credit card application I've ever completed requests my SS#. As I sit there completing the ink and paper form and pass it to the sales person/receptionist, it occurs to me that anyone would have to be an idiot to give them your SS#. I never have, and no one's ever given me much resistance. The only people that need your SS# is the bank, your employer and the government. Do you know what happens to those paper forms? Sometimes they end up getting manually put into a database and the paper is tossed in the trash. Doctors just store them in a paper file folder. Don't believe any claims that they take "precautions" because there's no way to verify it. Parameters for storage and security of information for offline systems is not regulated.

Here's a story that happened just last year that really chapped my hide: My parents apparently forget to pay their Belk Department Store bill that month (they have a perfect record of payment) and the department store called to inform them about the missing payment. To make the payment over the phone, Belk requested their SS#. It was foolish of my parents to provide it to them (anybody could have been calling) and an indication of Belk's poor policy of protecting its customers to even ask for the SS#. Here's a tip: If someone calls you asking for your SS#, hang up.