In a country that prides
itself on innovation and a citizen's right to privacy,
why are we still living with the most antiquated
personal credit scoring system in the world? Our SSN
(social security number) is the key to our financial
existence. It allows the world to see the good, the bad
and sometimes the downright ugly. We have no choice but
to use this system to obtain credit, mortgages,
insurance and even jobs. Having established the
importance of this 9 digit number to us as individuals
why are we still using a system that appears to have
been designed for the sole benefit of thieves and
robbers? We may just as well walk around with a BIG sign
pinned to our backs telling any criminal with half a
brain "Great Credit - Please Rob Me- All
information required listed below."
Anyone who has had the terrible misfortune to be
affected by Identity Theft will know only too well how
completely useless and ineffective our current system
is. The pain can and normally will go on for many years.
YOU ARE THE VICTIM OF A TERRIBLE CRIME! It would appear
that everyone knows you are the victim of this crime,
but the system has no answers for you. What seems like a
very simple solution (remove these items from my credit
report) becomes a MAJOR and very time consuming
challenge. The demand letters just keep arriving by the
sack load and of course your credit score, the thing we
are all judged by, keeps going down. It finally gets to
levels we never knew existed before this nightmare
began.
Before I outline a possible solution, lets look at
the problem. We are asked to give up our SSN every time
we need credit. How do we know where that information is
going. We complete these credit applications and hand
over our life story to someone we have never met before
- our name, address, date of birth, bank account and SSN.
This person normally takes the application to someone
else who either faxes it or puts the information into an
online system. We have no idea where this information is
going - IN GOD WE TRUST.
With Identity Theft (the so-called "White Collar
Crime") hitting record levels, it time for the
government to start looking after the citizens it's paid
to protect. Why are we still using a system most 3rd
world countries would laugh at? If we must use a credit
score system as a measure of our ability to pay debts,
then at the very least put in place a system that
protects us from criminals.
Why not make the SSN card a "Smart Card"
with all our credit information held by a secure
government agency. Before you all start crying "big
brother" they already have it anyway. Just watch
Law and Order or any CSI program and see how many times
they trace someone from a credit card or cell phone. The
smart card could have an account number, something like
a credit card number. This number plus our zip code is
the only personal information they would get. The
dealers or stores would pay a small fee to the agency
each time they requested a credit score. This would
allow them to make a basic decision, yes or no. Should
they wish to lend us the funds and we accepted their
terms they could give us an account/reference number
which we could enter into a government run secured web
site allowing us to complete their application form.
This would ensure that only fully licensed lending
organizations would be receiving our most personal
information.
They (our leaders) get the chance to put some real
meaning into the words "Serve and Protect" and
we get to sleep at night without the fear of being left penniless,
seems fair to me.
Have an opinion or a question you would like me to
answer, then write me!
http://www.CarlHampton.com
"Your"
Money Matters By Carl Hampton
Author of "From
Credit Despair To Credit Millionaire"
