Federal Laws

• According to the U.S. General Accounting Office, only three pieces of legislation limit the disclosure of Social Security numbers to third parties. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act limits financial institutions from SSNs with unaffiliated third parties. The Drivers Privacy Protection Act prevents motor vehicles departments from sharing SSNs under several circumstances. Patients and those with health care insurance have sweeping privacy rights under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). However, these laws don't always apply to collections activities.
  
  

Financial Institutions

• Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act financial institutions are not allowed to share SSNs with unaffiliated third parties, particularly consumer information clearinghouses that resell information and use it for marketing. However, a collection agency contracted to help an institution recover monies due represents a financial institution and can therefore receive Social Security numbers and other personal information.
  
  

Other Debts

• Medical and health care institutions cannot always give Social Security numbers to debt collectors. Because of the strictness of HIPAA, health care organizations must be very careful about what information they share. Usually, as long as an organization does not share specific medical information or diagnoses, it may share a Social Security number to engage in debt collection. However, information sharing cannot violate the HIPAA Privacy Rule or the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Disclosure is not allowed if a Social Security number would lead to outside parties gaining priviliged medical or health care information.
  
  

Compliance

• Creditors and debt collectors must respect several federal and state laws. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act require creditors to properly document debt, collect and report only on valid debts and not to harass debtors. Many states, including New York and California, have laws to complement federal statutes. These require debt collectors to disclose their identities and purposes and not to use deceiving methods when collecting. Consumers can get information about fair debt collection practices from their state attorney general or department of consumer affairs.