There are a few situations in which you must provide your Social Security (SSN) number to a business, including

• becoming an employee or independent contractor for a business
• engaging in a banking, financial or real estate transaction
• applying for group health insurance through your employer
• applying for credit

Even when there is no law requiring it, a business might request your SSN and deny you service if you refuse to provide it.

Yes, you can refuse unless you’re legally required to provide your Social Security number (SSN).

A Social Security number can be used to steal your identity (commonly called identity theft) to commit fraud, open new credit and bank accounts, get medical care/other benefits and obtain employment.

No. A real contest won’t ask for your Social Security number (SSN) over the phone (you’ll have to give it in writing).

The Social Security Administration will only issue a new Social Security number (SSN) in very specific or extreme situations, so it’s not likely that you’d be able to change yours.

Those rare situations in which they might change your SSN are if 

It’s always important to protect your Social Security number (SSN), but it’s extra important to do so around tax time. The tax forms you receive (job, banks) and your tax returns will all have it on them, but you can take some steps to protect your SSN and safeguard yourself against identity theft.

A Social Security number (SSN) is a nine digit identification number that has become a universal identifier for both the government and the private sector in the U.S.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB)—also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999—repealed laws that prevented the merger of banks, brokerage companies and insurance companies. Increasing the risk that financial institutions would have access to more personal information, it also added privacy protections that required all financial institutions to provide privacy notices to their customers and put measures in place to safeguard customers’ personal information.

Federal law requires banks and other financial institutions to put Customer Identification Programs in place to identify and verify the identity of their customers to prevent money laundering and the funding of terrorism.

While the bank has some flexibility in what they request from you, the minimum pieces of information that they’re required to gather for opening a new account are

A National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange (NCTUE) report contains customer data reported by NCTUE member utility service providers. It’s a good idea to get one if you’re the victim of identity theft or worried that someone might’ve opened a phone, cable or other utility account in your name.