🚀 go-pugleaf

[originally posted to misc.consumers, misc.legal. -ead]

comp.society.privacy, alt.privacy people,

at robinson's of santa barbara, i was offered a store charge card and a
10% discount on my purchase. the register clerk made this offer when i
was about to pay with my mc. all he needed to see were my ca driver's
license and a major credit card. oh, and halfway through the
application, my ssn.

i politely refused, and he informed me that the credit bureau/reporting
agency that he was about to call (*) would unconditionally deny my
application without an ssn. i decided to purchase the items with my mc
and skip the 10% discount.

after re-reading the ssn-privacy faq's "lenders and borrowers" section,
in which it states:

     Banks and credit card issuers and various others are required by the
     IRS to report the SSNs of account holders to whom they pay interest
     or when they charge interest and report it to the IRS.

i wondered whether store charge card issuers also fell under this
rubric. i don't recall being asked for my ssn as part of the application
for my mervyn's card. is such a practice legal (especially in
conjunction with a 10% discount)?

eric de mund <ead@netcom.com>

(*) or whomever he was about to call for an immediate answer to the
question, "should we offer this guy a card?"