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     | Friday, October 13, 2000 - 11:47 am  I just called NCO Financial Systems, Inc. regarding my GTE collection. The first person I spoke with told me they need my social security number to discuss the account and quickly hung up on me when I refused to provide it. I called back, got another person and told them right away that all I needed was verification (name, ext.) of this policy to include it in my law suit. He then became rather cooperative and he did give me the account info, based on the ACCOUNT number, verifying that they still want $105.
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| | Monday, October 16, 2000 - 09:57 pm Christine, I say this rather tongue-in-cheek: IF Blockbuster can require your SSN in order to rent a video, then by extension, I can think of NO area where it would be illegal to require the number. As always, it's for ID purposes.....a purpose which the orignal implementation of the SS system explicitly prohibited. Let's say it all together again: "The dirty corrupt congress we have sold out the consumer yet one more time"
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| | Monday, October 16, 2000 - 11:55 pm Christine -here is something you may want to check out and possibly reference the link in your materials directory. http://www.budhibbs.com/ I've been checking this site for a couple of years, and I find the guy to be extremely credible. I've skimmed through his free 245-page downloadable book,“IN THE CREDIT SYSTEM...YOU ARE GUILTY UNTIL YOU PROVE YOURSELF INNOCENT”, and it seems to have a LOT of good information that a lot of "newbies" to Bayhouse would like to have...almost like a comprehensive primer so they don't waste so much time asking the same rudimentary questions over and over. My personal disclaimer is that I have not thoroughly read the entire book, so my pointing this out is not my validation; however, in my following Budd Hibbs site for all this time, I have found that his philosophy is similar to the one that governs this board. I have also found him to be accurate and consistent. More to the point of your original question, though, look on page 33 of this book, and you will see a topic that starts thusly: =================== The only entities that are legally empowered with using your Social Security number are: 1. The IRS. 2. Social Security Administration. 3. Your employer. 4. Your bank. 5. State Department of Motor Vehicles (Public Safety). 6. Other local, state, or federal agencies. =======================
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| | Tuesday, October 17, 2000 - 04:13 am Blockbuster can ask for your social security number all they want. Just give them a bogus one. They'll never know the difference.
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| | Tuesday, October 17, 2000 - 05:49 am Common Sense please people. The Privacy Act of 1974 discusses the releasing your Social Security number. If a business asks for it you have the right to give it or not to give it. They also have the right to do business or not to do business with you if you don't wish to provide it. Simple business decisions. They also have the right to hang up on you and you have the right to sue them for whatever you can get away with. I personally find it amazing the information that phone servicers are required by their employers to harvest from us. Most of the servicers are just mindlessly doing as they are told and get bitched at if the don't complete all of the information on those screens. Usually, once they ask for soemthing that I don't feel is appropriate or necessary to complete the transaction, I tell them they don't need that information. If they tell me it is required, I tell them I will discuss whether or not it is required with their supervisor. And I really hate states that use your SSN as your driver's license number!
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| | Tuesday, October 17, 2000 - 06:47 am Blockbuster asks for your SSN because the second your movie is late, it gets reported. They don't hesitate to give you a bad mark on your credit, or throw the account in collections. I know people with excellent credit who refuse to do business with them because of that (my guess is they just got bit a few too many times by people with late movies who never returned them & never paid the late fees ... but Hollywood Video doesn't follow that practice). Of course, now that they're phasing out their older videos in favor of carrying DVDs, they're going to lose out on more customers ...
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| | Tuesday, October 17, 2000 - 09:56 am How does Blockbuster report you the second you movie is late? As a collection? That sounds crazy but I haven't used them in a long time so maybe...
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| | Tuesday, October 17, 2000 - 10:16 am I don't know; it was a conversation overheard from a disgruntled ex-Blockbuster patron about a month ago. I'd have discounted it, but I recall hearing similar complaints prior to that. I think they report you as a late payment, at least at first, like a credit card company would do. *shrugs* We don't use them at all, so I can't speak from personal experience.
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| | Tuesday, October 17, 2000 - 10:24 am Here's why I object to a collection agency asking for my ss #: I don't WANT to do business with them. It's not like I can say "Fine, I'll just call another collection agency." They are threatening to destroy my credit rating. If they wouldn't be sending those mean letters, I obviously wouldn't call them. As their letters often state, any information you provide can and will be used against you, in efforts to collect the debt. Because not all debts have the social security numbers, this practice should not be legal. I just wanted to know if they still have the debt, it turned out that they don't. I really need to find a good lawyer!
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| | Tuesday, October 17, 2000 - 12:51 pm I don't know about Blockbuster, but any company can report you to the bureaus if they think you owe them money, especially if it says so in the fine print. I wished the ss # was required, but I don't think so.
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| | Tuesday, October 17, 2000 - 01:53 pm Yeah you don't need a social to report someone negatively just a name and an address.
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| | Monday, October 23, 2000 - 07:37 am My Buckbuster application had a SS# line on it but in parenthesis is (optional). All they care about is your VALID credit card. That way if you are late after ten days they charge the card (after legally sending you a notice). I know this because it happened to my girlfriend.
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| | Monday, October 23, 2000 - 04:34 pm Yes but what happens if you give them your VALID credit card and lose it a day later? You'll call up and report it lost/stolen and the number will be changed.
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| | Tuesday, October 24, 2000 - 08:41 am Also, they can't report you to a credit reporting agency without a warning letter from them giving you that final chance to clear it up. I had it happen once (with a former credit card company) and challenged it...I won because they hadn't warned me before reporting it to the CRAs. Also, when I went through my period of hell before I filed for BK, the companies DO send a letter telling you to mail a payment or it will be reported. I don't know of anybody who at least doesn't do that. They can't just report you 2 days after not returning a movie and not paying late fees. A company would rather try and get the money before it has to pay to report you. But I am sure there are some exceptions.
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| | Tuesday, October 24, 2000 - 03:08 pm I must get this straight, becuse it is misinformation that was reported. Blockbuster DOES NOT report to the credit reporting agencies at all!! Much less the instant that your movie is late. I worked for BlockBuster 1 year ago. The procedure is to call the person after the movie is 5 days late, to remind them. The calls continue until it is determined whether the movie is lost, or returned. If the late fees are then unpaid, Blockbuster charges the credit card on file. If the credit card is old, and not in use anymore (or there is none on file), the account is put on hold. When the account is on hold, no one can have any activity on it until it is paid. If the account stays on hold for 6 months, Blockbuster writes off the late fees and the cost of the video as a tax write off. It's considered a pitfall of the industry. Why you chose to bad mouth Blockbuster is beyond me, especially propogating falsities. -Dan
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| | Tuesday, October 24, 2000 - 04:05 pm I never badmouthed Buck, er, Blockbuster just trying to correct the person who said they report your lateness to the CRAs. I knew that. I was late and Blockbuster sent me a letter that if I didn't pay my late fees they would charge my card.
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