Does this sound fishy to you? (We need copies of your ID and SS cards)

Forums:
Email this Topic • Print this Page

My wife and I have been living in our rental home for a number of years. We're working on purchasing a home at some point. Since we've been in this current home the property management has changed hands a few times. When we originally moved into this home we did the lease, provided all our documents, etc. We recently resigned the lease for another year. Lately we've been getting emails from the rental office stating that they need copies of our IDs and SS cards to update their records. They are saying that they are changing platforms and the person who use to handle that is no longer with the business and they do not have access to her emails. I think it's bad business for a company to have employees and when they leave you can't access their workstation or computer to get access to their emails and work stuff. They want us to email those documents to them. Probably legit but I think it's strange to ask someone to email that instead of bringing it to the office. Would you send that type of info via and email? I'm tempted to reply to the email and say, "why don't you provide me what you have and I'll verify if it's valid/current or not.

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 1 • Views: 277 • Replies: 10

No top replies

@Barry2021,

I can't speak for America, but over here renting has got a lot tighter.

I never used tohave to show my passport, now it's a legal requirement.

I think it's something to with unfounded allegations about non citizens voting.

0 Replies

Why don't you offer to take them in and then you can meet them in person? I don't think I'd have a problem with it because, after all, what can they do with them without your passwords, etc.? However, if you just say you'd feel more comfortable doing this in person, it would be a bit of a compromise.

1 Reply

@Mame,

Mame wrote:

Why don't you offer to take them in and then you can meet them in person? I don't think I'd have a problem with it because, after all, what can they do with them without your passwords, etc.? However, if you just say you'd feel more comfortable doing this in person, it would be a bit of a compromise.

yep that is what I would do if I was concerned.

I like places that have you download them on their servers instead - that is what many places have changed to. Safer than email even if you trust whom you are sending them to - in case you type the email wrong.

2 Replies

@Linkat,

I don't understand why they need the SSN cards - ID yes, but Social Security - no. What possible use could that be? And even if they need them to verify who they are, they could just write down that they saw it, they don't need a copy. Only employers need that number, outside of government.

2 Replies

@Mame,

Mame wrote:

I don't understand why they need the SSN cards - ID yes, but Social Security - no. What possible use could that be? And even if they need them to verify who they are, they could just write down that they saw it, they don't need a copy. Only employers need that number, outside of government.

The only thing I can think of is they do a credit check on you - to make sure you are not a risk for not paying your rent. You need that for a credit check

1 Reply

@Linkat,

And now-a-days people can finagle an email address to make it look legit like it's coming from a particular company but when you send it your id and SS number is being sent to some racket in Russia and God knows what they could do with it. Now they have your name, address, and SS#. I'd much rather take it into the office and let them make a copy of it right there.

1 Reply

@Mame,

I have yet to reply to the email, again, because I'm not sure it's 100% legit. And you're right, why does the rental office need my SSN given that we just resigned the lease a few months ago. Wouldn't they have that already?

0 Replies

@Linkat,

"The only thing I can think of is they do a credit check on you - to make sure you are not a risk for not paying your rent. You need that for a credit check."

The thing is that we recently resigned the lease a few months ago so all of that should have been handled then, not ask for it after and a few months since the lease was re-signed and good for the next year.

1 Reply

@Barry2021,

Yes they probably do not need it other than "for their paper work" - what happens with many larger businesses is they do things consistently and have all these checks and balances so this is probably one step they typically do as their normal process - so they are going back and crossing their "t"s and dotting their "i"s . In other words executive red tape.

More than likely this particular company (that is new to you) has required credit checks on their renters - you may have provided this previously but it appears they lost all this information when ownership changed hands - not your fault, but for record purposes they want to retain this data - more than likely also it gives them more data on you if in the future you stop paying your rent.

0 Replies

@Barry2021,

if you are concerned with potential fraud or stealing your personal information - why don't you simply call them? You must have the new company's phone number in case of any issues. Give them a call and ask them if they did indeed request this information and then ask them why? If you don't want to give it to them explain why you don't ...

But you could find yourself losing your lease the next time it is up for renewal if you are not so cooperative.

And if you find they did not request this - you could be helping fellow renters by letting the leasing company know so they can inform all their tenants about potential fraud.

0 Replies

Forums
» Does this sound fishy to you? (We need copies of your ID and SS cards)

Read Question
Reply to All

Does this sound fishy to you? (We need copies of your ID and SS cards)

Quick Links

My Account

able2know