It's not just a breach you have to worry about. Credit agencies actively monetize your financial data by selling it to anyone who wants it. You didn't give it to them, you didn't authorize it, they collect it and they sell it.
this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024
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Privacy
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Assuming you live in the USA.
Short answer:: No.
Long answer:: yes but you’re basically living as a criminal, rather— you’d have no bank accounts; no credit cards; and you’d live on cash alone paying no taxes as you’d have to work under the table ( no one messes with the IRS). — or— leave the USA and do the above…
So if you want any kind of “modern life “ put a freeze on all your credit accounts and check them annually
I'd add one tip- you can go to annual credit report.com and get a free report once a year.
The trick is to request just one per 4 months. First transunion or whoever, then experian, then Equifax, etc. No need to wait a year for a current report.
Wait, aren't you allowed to receive your salary in cash? As long as your employer deducts your income tax and social security contributions accordingly, there is nothing illegal about this procedure. It's uncommon for sure, but not impossible.
You can certainly be paid in cash legally. Finding an employer willing to do that, though, might be challenging. It would probably have to be retail or another business that regularly deals in cash.
You can pay employees with cash legally, but it's a royal PITA and OP would still be "in the system" so to speak via income taxes and the like. The not-so-legal method would be for an employer to operate a cash-heavy business in which they'd basically take cash from the till and hand it directly to the employee, not recording either the income to the business or the dispersement to the employee. The issue can be that if the business doesn't operate with much cash on hand, they'd have to basically withdraw it from the ATM to give to OP, but (depending on how the business is structured) it would likely count as a personal dispersement to the business owner that they'd be taxed on and they wouldn't be able to claim it as a business expense, unless they did some fuckery with their books and run the risk of getting nailed by the IRS.
The most common way for a an employer to pay in cash is through a check mailed to your address on record. That check can then be cashed either by the bank on the check, which is required to exchange the check for cash or a check cashing business which will take a fee for the service. Both ways will require identification.
The only other legal way is get a job with an employer who is willing to pay in cash, usually at a cashier window. Most common in labor jobs in the mining, manufacturing or agricultural fields, some higher education institutions, and occasionally in construction.
Otherwise you’ll have to go the illegal under the table route. Which is easier to find than you would think, there’s a whole lot of people avoiding wage garnishment and or immigration enforcement.
It's quite easy to get rid of all that crap: just come living in the EU
doesnt the UK still have the big Credit Agencies and do the same thing?
Sadly, no. Germany for example has the SCHUFA which is basically the equivalent of the Chinese social score nowadays
It is not. Saying so, reduces the intrusiveness and carelessness of the american system and absolute insanity of the chinese scoring system.
The SCHUFA is a problematic institution for sure, but saying it's equivalent to the chinese scoring system just shows that you don't know what you are talking about.
In a general sense, you are discussing a way to control other people and organizations, and to make them stop talking about you. (Communicating and storing your information) This isn’t always possible or practical.
If you pay a merchant with your payment card, that merchant is allowed to know your payment card number. If you call a toll free number, the recipient of your call is allowed to know your phone number.
If they decide to share what they learn about you, and they do so legally, there’s not a whole lot you can do to stop them. I’m not saying this to antagonize or hurt you. I invite you to think differently about what you can control and what is worth worrying about.
I'm constantly having identity theft issues since a data breach at work. It changes you. Going to the IRS building constantly. Getting notifications from a credit monitoring sites. It's ridiculous how much time I need to prove I am myself just to pay my own taxes.
That really sucks. I can't imagine the stress you must be feeling. I hope things level out for you soon. Hang in there.
and they do so legally,
the problem lies right there
This is the result of having too many "nothing to hide" idiots.
They are all meaning to say "not my problem", but all they're doing is create problems for themselves and their kids. They only notice, as always with privacy, when it's entirely too late.
I never asked for a credit score.
Unfortunately the credit agencies don’t have much reason to care what you want. There are people with money who asked for everybody to have a credit score
I don't think you can. A credit score and a credit report is what companies use to determine if you can get credit from them and at what terms.
If you are in the USA, freeze your credit. So many data breaches happen to millions of people regularly. Be safe.
perhaps if you open a company, pay with corporate accounts - but this is more obfuscation than a solution
Where do you live?
Usa
The best you can do is freeze them, you just have to do each on separate on their respective websites.
Did
how do credit agencies even work? what data do they collect and how?
Well, as you may be aware, banks like getting money.
Taking money from their customers through banking fees and interest on both deposits and loans isn't enough for the banks and credit card issuers. So they sell credit card and loan usage information to whoever will pay for it, and these credit monitoring companies will, to keep a file on you (tied to your SSN/SIN). They know how many loan accounts and how long you've had them for, how often you pay your loan bill on time vs. not, what % of your credit limit you tend to use each month, and when you go shopping for new loans (since loan agencies will request your file from them to determine whether you are trustworthy enough).
If you have a SSN, you have a number.
Well I totally get this entire system is mismanaged horribly designed from the start not even designed for this from the start, exetera....
Having some kind of standardized way of stating someone else's trustworthiness when it comes to money lending it's something that's just inherit to capitalism as long as you have capitalism simple as that, even if they don't call it a credit score.
It is important to note that while a FICO score is roughly equivalent to "trustworthiness", the three credit agency scores (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian) are NOT meant to reflect your trustworthiness directly. Rather, they are specifically designed to inform lenders of your profitability for them.
It's an important distinction because having a an outstanding payment history alone won't improve these scores, if you aren't utilizing available credit and maintaining some running balance with lenders.
Basically, if you're just going to borrow money and never pay any interest on the loans, you aren't actually a source of profit and therefore aren't a desirable customer for lenders and creditors
Yep, my score went down when I paid off my car way earlier. So I get penalized for actually being better with managing my money, because they earn less in interest.
The word you're looking for is etcetera. And unless you plan to return to community banks where you have to get to know the local banker to get a mortgage, you need this system.
I'm not sure how tying this to capitalism makes sense...lending is a risk, they are betting that you'll remain employed and will continue to pay them - there is a chance you won't and you pay a premium to get money now. Communist countries also have this system, but it is more centrally controlled by the State.
Et cetera is actually 2 words, just so you know.