Can stores really ask you for that?
By Liz Pulliam Weston
MSN Money
The marketing machines
"What's your phone number (or e-mail address)?" "I need your name and address to start the transaction." "We have to have your Social Security number."
None of this information is required to complete a retail transaction. So why do they ask?
To add you to their marketing databases, of course.
If you want their spam (and maybe coupons, too), you're certainly free to divulge your name, address, phone number and birthday. But you're never required to do so just to complete a transaction.
And any request for a Social Security number should really raise red flags. There are a few times you have to fork over your Social Security number to a private business:
* If you're applying for credit.
* If the transaction will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
* If there's a financial institution involved, and it's required to verify your identity.
Health care providers and potential employers usually want your SSN as well. Privacy advocates suggest you avoid revealing it unless you have to -- in the case of an employment situation, that's after you've accepted the job. But that might be a tough line to draw if the health care provider or potential employer makes a stink about it, since you want (or need) what they have to offer.
In other situations, you should be extremely stingy about who gets your Social Security number, since it's the key to your financial identity and revealing it can make you a target of identity theft.
When asked for this or any other personal information, the best response is the simplest: "I prefer to keep that information private."
Full Article
This is one of my biggest pet peeves when I shop at stores now a days. It's just BS that they ask you for these things and it's good to know that I don't have to put up with it by law. There's other information at the link, this one is the one at the end of the article and the one that hit me the most, so I thought I'd share.
MSN Money
The marketing machines
"What's your phone number (or e-mail address)?" "I need your name and address to start the transaction." "We have to have your Social Security number."
None of this information is required to complete a retail transaction. So why do they ask?
To add you to their marketing databases, of course.
If you want their spam (and maybe coupons, too), you're certainly free to divulge your name, address, phone number and birthday. But you're never required to do so just to complete a transaction.
And any request for a Social Security number should really raise red flags. There are a few times you have to fork over your Social Security number to a private business:
* If you're applying for credit.
* If the transaction will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
* If there's a financial institution involved, and it's required to verify your identity.
Health care providers and potential employers usually want your SSN as well. Privacy advocates suggest you avoid revealing it unless you have to -- in the case of an employment situation, that's after you've accepted the job. But that might be a tough line to draw if the health care provider or potential employer makes a stink about it, since you want (or need) what they have to offer.
In other situations, you should be extremely stingy about who gets your Social Security number, since it's the key to your financial identity and revealing it can make you a target of identity theft.
When asked for this or any other personal information, the best response is the simplest: "I prefer to keep that information private."
Full Article
This is one of my biggest pet peeves when I shop at stores now a days. It's just BS that they ask you for these things and it's good to know that I don't have to put up with it by law. There's other information at the link, this one is the one at the end of the article and the one that hit me the most, so I thought I'd share.