Background checks and identity theft

The huge corporate affiliate of the little independent company I work for has decided that they need to do background checks on everyone hired within the last 3 years. That means me. And, probably a whole bunch of other people, but that's THEIR problem. MY problem is that I hate any rippling of the waters of my 'personal information pool' in the data world.

Maybe it's just me, but I think that any time an inquiry is posted and a data file is sent there is a possibility for something to get mucked up. Data transmissions can be hijacked. New paper files can be left, available for pinching, on someone's desk. Data can be corrupted. Errors happen. All the time.

We are so vulnerable. Our personal information is splattered all over the backup disks of thousands of companies. The Big Three - name, birthdate and social security number - are plenty easy to get. Mother's maiden name - simple. When I applied for a passport a few years ago they wouldn't accept my original birth certificate. It was the one that ONLY I could have had - original signatures on it, hospital seal... No, they wanted to have an 'official' copy that I had to order from the state - a copy that literally ANYONE could have obtained online. The only requirement was to pay the small fee.

Literally everyone in your business and professional world taps into your credit history. You have to give permission to your dentist and doctor right along with your mortgage company and bank to check your credit. Employers do it. Stores do it. Utility companies do it. We get mail all the time from people claiming that 'according to our records, your insurance is about to expire' or our home owners protection plan or our appliance warranties - or that our mortgage rate 'may be too high' or that the prescription drugs we use might have a generic substitute. Why do they have such 'records?' All of this information has been sold, by someone, to the highest bidder so they can hound us for more business.

When Mark started working for Microsoft they did a 'background' check. Actually they didn't do it themselves, they 'outsourced' it to some other company. So someone we know nothing about and didn't give our permission to, started collecting information and storing it. They had to check on former employers, one of which also 'outsources' all their employee files. They ran a credit check. When they put us in corporate housing, THOSE people ran a credit check, even though they were being paid by Microsoft, not us. When we opened a checking and savings account, when we rented our own apartment, when we rented storage space, when we applied for a mortgage, when we signed up for utilities at our new house - all caused new credit checks. (Even a Microsoft Corporate Move affiliate, Wells Fargo, ran a credit check on us without our knowledge just in case they would have an opportunity to serve our mortgage needs.) By the time they were done our own credit score had decrease by 50 points because there had been too many credit inquiries in the past 6 months. As if we had been applying for credit cards and going on a spending spree. I was appalled.

I don't apply for store credit cards in order to 'save 10% on all your purchases today.' I don't enter sweepstakes anymore (except, of course, for the HGTV Dream House... oh well.) I don't have a debit card, don't authorize direct deductions from my checking account, don't allow internet sales sites to keep my credit card information (if I can help it - sometimes you can't.) We use cash at most small or independent businesses and restaurants to avoid the possibility of credit card theft. I don't even do online banking or bill paying.

At every point in which someone was accessing our data, there was the possibility that something would get messed up. And that was a lot of 'points.'

I'm getting paranoid. And I don't appreciate letting loose another authorized background check.

But in today's world, if you want to work, you give them permission to check you out. If you want to travel, you give them permission to look through your things and feel you up. If you want to buy things, get medical help, drive, use electricity, call people on the phone... you give 'them' permission.

Your car, your cell phone, your Easy Pass automatic toll payer - all give people ways to track you. Every street corner, every business, every building has security cameras.

Think you aren't at risk because you are honest and transparent in your dealings with the world?

Think again.