Consumer Blog

Leave Social Security number off checks and driver's license

You should always see this advice from anyone giving identity theft prevention tips. For your driver's license, the federal government changed the law recently so that you can't get your SSN on your license anymore. You'll have to have a random driver's license number - and that's good. But many of you still have old licenses with your Social on there - and they don't expire for a few more years. Consider, for about $13, renewing your license now and getting that SSN off of there. Contact your local Department of Revenue license office.

As for your personal checks, I still see a lot of consumers with their SSN on their checks. Bad idea. You lose your checkbook, and somebody has not only your bank account and routing number, but also your Social.

I often get the question, "What about when I write a check at the store and the clerk asks for my Social? Is that legal?" Yes, it's legal to ask, but you don't have to give it. You can:

see if they'll accept some other information like phone number or driver's license number
pay by credit card
pay cash
leave the store and go somewhere else

But most stores these days respect people's ID theft concerns and won't insist on having your Social Security number.