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Opting in implies a choice.... often times the “choice” is “give up your personal information or you can’t get the service at all”, even if the service is, say,
by drb91 8y ago
Opting in implies a choice.... often times the “choice” is “give up your personal information or you can’t get the service at all”, even if the service is, say, a water utility.
A large part of the problem is that companies can pretend to use the information as an ID when actually using it to just get credit history. I wish we could simply pass a law saying that identity verification cannot use SSN, and that one must separately opt in to credit checks than to id verification.
- chii 8y ago> service is, say, a water utility If you need to pay using a credit card then it makes sense that you must get your credit checked. But there are always alternative payment methods that don't involve credit (like pay by cash). If you truly do not want to consent to having a credit history, you can avoid it.
- ShabbosGoy 8y agoYes, it’s not a default opt-in. In fact, many people are unbanked in the United States. You can also choose not to open a bank account as well.
- syrrim 8y agoThe way utilities work is equivalent to a credit card: you use the service over the course of a month/year, then at the end you pay for what you used. This is a form of debt. If you could pay at the atart, this would be alleviated, but you don't know how much you will use at the start. I'm sure there are various other solutions, but none as simple as verfiying credit history, then waiting to charge until the end of the period.
- Casseres 8y agoA solution that is as simple: Pay a deposit. If you don't pay the bill, they use your deposit and terminate your service. My current ISP didn't even ask for a deposit. I just visited one of their storefronts so they could check my ID to verify my name.
- nmcfarl 8y agoIn the past I was with an ISP that didn’t allow overages, so monthly bills were predictable. They required 1 months payment as a deposit up front and ran a credit check. The only alternative was dial up. Just because someone isn’t giving you credit and never will doesn’t mean they won’t want your credit details. Nor that you will have leverage to refuse.
- Casseres 8y agoCredit check and deposit? Since they had no competitor, I guess they could get away with it. Yes, some companies are rotten, but some do provide just as simple ways to get service without a credit check. > but none as simple as verfiying credit history