OT: Sharing Confidential Info

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by charliedid

Pretty standard.

I did it for 10 years. I'd like to think you would be happy to know that management did this for everyone in your building/community including your next door neighbors. If you have nothing to hide don't sweat it.

No bank info need unless direct deposit and that can be done without giving management your info directly.

My 2 cents

I'm gonna push back here. They might want all this info, but they really don't have a use for your SSN or license number. Credit check is fine, they have to know you are good for the rent. A name and DOB is all that's required here. A reference or previous landlord is fine because they need to know you won't wreck the place. Beyond that, it's just putting sensitive information into an unsecured area. Not needed, I wouldn't do it, and I wouldnt ask anyone I was doing business with to do it. The idea that you should be cool with it because you have nothing to hide misses the point (and is also used to justify a lot of surveillance state BS). How can the tenant know that his information is secure?

[cderalow]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

I'm gonna push back here. They might want all this info, but they really don't have a use for your SSN or license number. Credit check is fine, they have to know you are good for the rent. A name and DOB is all that's required here. A reference or previous landlord is fine because they need to know you won't wreck the place. Beyond that, it's just putting sensitive information into an unsecured area. Not needed, I wouldn't do it, and I wouldnt ask anyone I was doing business with to do it. The idea that you should be cool with it because you have nothing to hide misses the point (and is also used to justify a lot of surveillance state BS). How can the tenant know that his information is secure?

If name, DOB and last 4 of SSN is good enough for the feds to run a full background check on a person, not sure why anyone would need anything more to run a credit check.

I didn't need more than that to secure a mortgage from our local credit union.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

I'm gonna push back here. They might want all this info, but they really don't have a use for your SSN or license number. Credit check is fine, they have to know you are good for the rent. A name and DOB is all that's required here. A reference or previous landlord is fine because they need to know you won't wreck the place. Beyond that, it's just putting sensitive information into an unsecured area. Not needed, I wouldn't do it, and I wouldnt ask anyone I was doing business with to do it. The idea that you should be cool with it because you have nothing to hide misses the point (and is also used to justify a lot of surveillance state BS). How can the tenant know that his information is secure?

Originally Posted by cderalow

If name, DOB and last 4 of SSN is good enough for the feds to run a full background check on a person, not sure why anyone would need anything more to run a credit check.

I didn't need more than that to secure a mortgage from our local credit union.

I get that,

I think the issue has always been to be able to (with high certainty) cross reference a couple forms of state or fed ID to run a criminal background check. Nobody cares about a criminal background check for you and your own home. It's different in a multi-family situation where the landlord adheres to a strict code of safety for everyone involved. Sad truth is people get harmed, robbed and worse in multi-family dwellings.

Using last 4 digits of SS was starting to be the norm when I left that job, so not everyone requires the entire thing.

I've rejected applicants based on information found in a criminal background check. That's no joke.

Crazy world.

[charliedid]

Also,

If all I needed was a name and DOB in this day and age I could login to Facebook and harvest 1000's of them in minutes. I could probably get a fair number of telephone #'s as well as an address or two.

I think this is where Blockchain or some other encrypted form of ID could be useful but I have exactly no idea how long before that happens.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by charliedid

I get that,

I think the issue has always been to be able to (with high certainty) cross reference a couple forms of state or fed ID to run a criminal background check. Nobody cares about a criminal background check for you and your own home. It's different in a multi-family situation where the landlord adheres to a strict code of safety for everyone involved. Sad truth is people get harmed, robbed and worse in multi-family dwellings.

Using last 4 digits of SS was starting to be the norm when I left that job, so not everyone requires the entire thing.

I've rejected applicants based on information found in a criminal background check. That's no joke.

Crazy world.

This all makes sense. I'm coming from the perspective of renting single-family dwellings in decent neighborhoods and having the luxury to get to know the potential tenants before we sign anything. I can see why a large multi-family complex might be different.

[AngryScientist]

yup, no way i'm giving some unknown company that doesnt have a pretty substantial corporate backing, a bulletproof privacy policy and a better cyber security policy a cookie cutter identity theft package.

[Clancy]

This info (ssn in particular) is asked on a lot of forms, Doctor’s office visits for example.

I always put down incorrect numbers, mixing up a couple of digits.

Been doing this for years, never had anyone come back for additional information.

Learned this from my grandfather when I was just a kid. He kept getting a bill that he had already paid. This was in the old punch card days. He punched a couple more holes in it and sent it back. Never heard from the company again.

This was 60 years ago but concept still works today!

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Clancy

This info (ssn in particular) is asked on a lot of forms, Doctor’s office visits for example.

I always put down incorrect numbers, mixing up a couple of digits.

Been doing this for years, never had anyone come back for additional information.

Learned this from my grandfather when I was just a kid. He kept getting a bill that he had already paid. This was in the old punch card days. He punched a couple more holes in it and sent it back. Never heard from the company again.

This was 60 years ago but concept still works today!

pretty sure there were a number of young ladies who pulled this exact trick with their phone number to me in my younger days

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

And i put a lot more stock into what their previous landlord has to say than a credit score.

I managed quite a few rentals and found talking to previous landlords OTHER than the one where the applicants were currently living was the best source of info. The current landlord would give TERRIBLE tenants a rave review just to get rid of them but landlords from their more distant past would tell the truth. I also got some interesting info by talking to the neighbors around the applicants former addresses. The classic case involved a couple who got rave reviews from their landlord but the neighbors referred me to info about how these "ideal" renters had cut holes in walls so they could get better camera angles for the porno films they were shooting in the rental "home".

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by HenryA

Pay attention to who you give this information to. Unless you are face to face with the other person in the actual rental office, do some work to verify who you are communicating with. This can be an identity theft scam.

Had kids in CA who almost got caught up in one that offered a super low price on a nice house to rent. Turned out the “landlord” didn’t own the property and was just running a scam.

just want to emphasize this.

if you have not visited the rental unit, it's probably a scam to harvest your information.

in SF (and other high-demand areas), if there's an apartment open house, prospective tenants would come prepared with their credit report, bank statement, and paycheck to the open house and show them to the property manager / landlord right away. sucks, but that's what one has to do.

[CNY rider]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

pretty sure there were a number of young ladies who pulled this exact trick with their phone number to me in my younger days

Oh one time the meanest mean girl (of course I didn't realize it at the time and got totally played) offered me her number. Of course it was actually for a rather homely, unpopular classmate of hers........