Protect Your Personal Information and Credit History When Buying a Car

One way to protect your personal information and credit history is to never
give out your personal data to anyone unless you have to.  If you pay cash
when you buy something, there is very little chance anyone can "steal" your
identity, run up bills against your name, and ruin your credit rating.  But
not everyone knows the limits about when they have to give out their
personal data, especially since The Patriot Act was passed with its strict
"anti-terrorist" Verification of Identity requirements.  How many of us
really know when we don't have to give out personal information?

The FBI was recently accused of improperly using The Patriot Act to obtain
personal information on a large number of individuals, when there was no
provision authorizing them to obtain (or mine) the data.  If government
agents can misuse "anti-terrorist" provisions to obtain your personal
information, what is to stop unscrupulous people or businesses from taking
advantage of our lack of knowledge of The Patriot Act?  The answer is: learn
the "A-B-C's" of The Patriot Act and be wary of unnecessary requests for
personal data.  Here's a link to The Patriot Act:
http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/highlights.htm.

I've heard stories of car buyers who have their own car financing (either
cash or pre-approved loans), but their car dealer says they have to sign a
credit application anyway, claiming it's required by the Patriot Act.  The
dealer may be trying to fool them into filling out a credit application, so
they can run the buyer's credit through their banks in an attempt to lead
him/her into financing the purchase, earning more "back-end" dealer
commissions from the banks.

Such claims may sound believable to the unwary buyer, but armed with
knowledge of the law, you can stop them from getting access to information
you don't have to give out.  There is no provision in the Patriot Act which
requires that you fill out a credit application, or which allows dealers to
run credit checks on you when you bring your own car financing.  We tend to
trust people who take our personal information, just expecting that they
will keep it safe.  But if a dealer doesn't know this law, or is abusing its
provisions, how can we trust him to steer us in the right direction when
buying a car from him?

If you have your own financing, all you need to provide is your driver's
license and proof of insurance. You don't have to give the dealer more
information than is required-so don't!