Disclosing info
 

Hi, I am just wondering how many of you guys had to give out your sin number to do a credit check or a approval at a dealership to purchase a car. Is it mandatory to give it to them or does it help them get your approval faster??

Your Social Insurance Number: A Shared Responsibility! Protect it! Safeguard it! - Service Canada

You are not required to provide it. But that said, they are also not required or obligated to provide financing either.

It is not required for financing however it makes the process much easier.

Yup ... it is much easier for the agency collecting the credit information to ensure that they are collecting accurate information to build an accurate portfolio/snapshot of the applicant's credit history.

Either way is it true that when they do a credit check or approval your SIN number shows up as well?

I forget... I don't think the SIN shows up directly, however to tell you the truth if you're giving them all the information required to finance a car, you may as well just give them the SIN. If you don't trust them with it then perhaps move on to a different dealership.

When I pull my credit file from Equifax or TU, my SIN is 123 456 789. I've never provided it to anybody who would report it to the reporting bureaus.

They just like using it as a defacto national identifying number.

You trust someone enough to finance a car from them, but you are worried about providing them your SIN number?

That makes no sense, if you are worried about the privacy, or your identity when dealing with someone, you should definitely not be borrowing from this individual or business.