You Want My WHAT?

Although we made the call to find out why a check hadn't been cashed by the cellphone company, I was still a little worried. We had received a notice from Sprint that our check (good, by the way) hadn't been cashed because of insufficient information. Huh? Information? The name of the bank is on the check. Our names, phone number and address are preprinted on it. He wrote the Sprint account number on the memo line. What more do they want?

Well, guess what! Sprint Guy (with a distinctive Mexican accent) wanted everything! Jimmy provided his birth date, the spelling of our names, our address and phone number but stopped when the guy wanted his driver's license number. Sprint Guy suggested that it might be Jimmy's S.S. number and wanted that, but Jimmy told him he didn't use that number anymore as a license number so Sprint Guy wanted whatever number Jimmy used. When he refused Sprint Guy said he couldn't help with our problem and got off the phone. We filled out an application card with all that information when we got the cellphones. SG should have it all in his computer.

My question to us was: could we have gotten scammed sometime down the road by giving that guy all that information? I know we were the ones who called with the problem, but giving out that much private information became scary. All this guy had to do, really, was get the S.S. number and driver's license number and then he could apply for a credit card, couldn't he? Am I wrong? Is it that simple?

I also want to know why everyone wants your S.S. number. It clearly states on the card that it's not to be used for identification. I get that we need it for work. That's clear. BUT, why do we need it for health insurance, bank loans, doctors' offices and places like that, that have nothing to do with income and retirement?