Will Debt Consolidation Hurt Me And Is Establishing An EIN# Legal?

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I recently consolidated all my debts in an effort to get rid of late fees and lower my APR's, all of which the company I used did. Some people I've talked to told me this is was a bad idea when it comes to investing because I won't be able to do anything when it comes to my credit as long as I'm in debt consolidation. I have since looked for solutions on the internet and I have found some companies that said I could get an employee identification number which can be used the same as a SSN # and start over again with a clean slate of credit. I was wondering if anyone out there has any opinions about the debt consolidation or the EIN #. Thanks.

Comments(12)

  • JohnMerchant26th April, 2004

    I doubt if any lender would object to your getting your debts under control, but if you've had to agree not to borrow any new money, that agreement would prevent a new loan, would it not?

    As far as your getting an EIN to replace your SS #, I'd say you're being kidded in a big way...EIN is for another entity, such as LLC or corporation, not for an individual.

    If anybody whose credit I'm checking came to me with a request to please use their EIN, I think I might laugh in their faces.

  • SECONDWAVE29th April, 2004

    I am in the process of purchasing property with my EIN # and am receiving 100% financing by using it and it is working out great.

  • kensinvest30th April, 2004

    Quote:
    On 2004-04-26 17:49, JohnMerchant wrote:
    As far as your getting an EIN to replace your SS #, I'd say you're being kidded in a big way...EIN is for another entity, such as LLC or corporation, not for an individual.

    If anybody whose credit I'm checking came to me with a request to please use their EIN, I think I might laugh in their faces.



    An EIN is a nine-digit number (for example, 12-3456789) assigned to sole proprietors, corporations, partnerships, estates, trusts, and other entities for tax filing and reporting purposes. The information you provide on this form will establish your business tax account.

    I am not a lawyer but I think you can use this number all you have to do is go get a business lisc and then apply for the number.

    I don't think anyone would ever request you to use their EIN but they may just use it in place of their SSN would you know the difference?

  • JohnMerchant30th April, 2004

    Secondwave, while I do congratulate you on finding a lender who'll loan to you with your EIN ID, it sure is hard to believe that ANY lender would ignore your SS #.

    And by the way, it is news to me that an EIN can be had for a sole proprietorship (individual), as I guess I've never checked it before.

    Hey, after all, I thought I had all the answers and knew it all! wink What a shock to my nervous system !

  • JohnMerchant30th April, 2004

    Kensinvest, I'd think any savvy business person could tell instantly the difference between a SS & EIN number...after all, they're structured differently.

    While the SS # is xxx-xx.xxxx, the EIN is
    xx-xxxxxxx.

    Wouldn't you know the difference immediatly?

  • kensinvest30th April, 2004

    John they have the same amount of #'s the only way to tell the diff is if you decode them. Most of the credit applications have a place to put in a 9 digit number so you format that number yourself when you fill out the application if people do not state that they are using an EIN most would never be the wiser.

    Here is the decodeing 001-003 NH 400-407 KY 530 NV
    004-007 ME 408-415 TN 531-539 WA
    008-009 VT 416-424 AL 540-544 OR
    010-034 MA 425-428 MS 545-573 CA
    035-039 RI 429-432 AR 574 AK
    040-049 CT 433-439 LA 575-576 HI
    050-134 NY 440-448 OK 577-579 DC
    135-158 NJ 449-467 TX 580 VI Virgin Islands
    159-211 PA 468-477 MN 581-584 PR Puerto Rico
    212-220 MD 478-485 IA 585 NM
    221-222 DE 486-500 MO 586 PI Pacific Islands*
    223-231 VA 501-502 ND 587-588 MS
    232-236 WV 503-504 SD 589-595 FL
    237-246 NC 505-508 NE 596-599 PR Puerto Rico
    247-251 SC 509-515 KS 600-601 AZ
    252-260 GA 516-517 MT 602-626 CA
    261-267 FL 518-519 ID 627-645 TX
    268-302 OH 520 WY 646-647 UT
    303-317 IN 521-524 CO 648-649 NM
    318-361 IL 525 NM *Guam, American Samoa,
    362-386 MI 526-527 AZ Philippine Islands,
    387-399 WI 528-529 UT Northern Mariana Islands

    650-699 unassigned, for future use
    700-728 Railroad workers through 1963, then discontinued
    729-799 unassigned, for future use
    800-999 not valid SSNs. Some sources have claimed that numbers
    above 900 were used when some state programs were converted
    to federal control, but current SSA documents claim no
    numbers above 799 have ever been used.

    I hope this helps
    Ken[ Edited by kensinvest on Date 04/30/2004 ]

  • millionaireinthemaking30th April, 2004

    Quote:
    On 2004-04-29 12:43, SECONDWAVE wrote:
    I am in the process of purchasing property with my EIN # and am receiving 100% financing by using it and it is working out great.


    Hi you guys,
    I've heard of this method also; haven't tried it yet.
    I've done some minor research on the topic and from what I understand, SSN's initially were intended to be used for filing "taxes only".
    Some how down the road SSN's has been misused/misconstrued.
    I found out about this method through a co-worker. She was able to re-establish her credit by getting an EIN and using as her SSN.
    My question is: If you try to use an EIN to re-establish credit and there is no credit history under this number and it goes through credit bureau showing your name and address, will this not trigger a "red flag" to the credit bureau?
    So "Secondwave", how were you able to get around this?

  • joefm2627th June, 2004

    As far as I know using an EIN instead of your SSN is illegal and qualifies for an all expense paid vacation to club fed if caught. Now on the other hand don't you use your EIN to apply for credit if you are a business? In that case I suppose if you were a legitamite business, you could apply for credit for your business with it.

    my 2 cents worth

    Joe
    [addsig]

  • j_owley3rd July, 2004

    instead of trying to cheat the system, work at being responcible in the first place or from now on and in time things will improve

    wink

  • stellahughes5th August, 2004

    From my understanding, the EIN method is illegal.

    Also, what's the point of having an EIN... ALL credit applications require businesses (which are typically the only entities that use EIN numbers) that have been in business for less than two years or whose income is less than a couple million dollars after the two year period require an authorized person from the company to "qualify" on behalf of the company. What does "qualify" mean? To pony up their social security number.

    And, yes, you can be a sole proprietorship and have an EIN number. It's a good way to keep from comingling business with personal and I've done it many times.

    If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is... or it's illegal!

  • creditsolutions9th August, 2004

    In case anyone is considering the use of an EIN vs. SSN here is the definitive information from the Federal Trade Commission. Of course it is illegal, however, that small issue has not stopped a lot of people from doing what they want anyway. I guess this world is really a risk /reward environment and some people just don't care if they can sleep well or not.

    http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/creditid.htm

  • flacorps12th August, 2004

    The SSN list is a little out of date, here's the real poop (just had to check because an immigrant client with a recently issued SSN is having trouble using it to get an EIN for his new stateside business) ... he's in the 767 series.

    http://www.ssa.gov/foia/stateweb.html
    http://www.ssa.gov/employer/highgroup.txt

    The latter link is the most recent and most accurate.

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