This post has information that part of me thinks that I should not put on the blog but another part of me says that people need to be aware. CPN stands for Credit Profile Number or Credit Privacy Number, or pretty much what ever the “credit guru’s” that sell them choose to call them. The following is a report that I gave out for free a while back, but I see that these CPN guys are still at it and I have a couple clients emailing and calling me with questions.  The following is in the context of an ebook because that is where I took it from.

DISCLAIMER

Intended for informational purposes only

Read the following page very closely before you start.

The information provided in this E-book is not intended to be considered legal advice in any way. This is simply to show you HOW companies are obtaining Credit Privacy Numbers or Credit Profile Numbers. In no way do we encourage anyone to use the following information.

Any misuse of this information is fully your responsibility. If you should choose to create a CPN that is your decision alone and in no way do we encourage anyone to do so. It is not illegal to have a new number for business however, but what is done with this number can be  illegal and that, again, is why this is only for informational purposes and is not sold in an attempt to scam, cheat or defraud any creditors what so ever.

The Truth about CPNs.

For those of you who do not know, a CPN or SCN is something that is being sold on the internet under the pretence of creating a new credit file.

This report is meant to expose the truth about CPN Numbers, more commonly referred to as credit privacy identification numbers! or Credit Privacy Numbers and  recently I have seen something called an SPN which is even more absurd. .Many people like you, read on the Internet about CPN numbers that offer a new start by giving you a brand new credit file.

Let me start my saying that most believable lies are based on some truth. Here is the only thing in the stories about the advent of CPNs that are true. Social Security numbers were not created for credit building purposes. They were created for identity purposes and technically, you are not required to use your social security number for building credit. This is something that many credit repair companies site as the reason for a CPN. What they do not continue to say is that NO LENDER’S credit application has a space for an alternative number. When applying for personal credit, all lenders require a social security number. If you have a lender that allows you to knowingly submit a CPN please let me know.

When the credit bureaus decided to use social security number to as one control to indentify an individual’s credit file, they needed a creative way to get your social security number into their database. Now, acquiring the entire database of social security numbers from the social security administrations is actually illegal because there are a number of privacy laws that will be broken so an alternative system has to be developed and this system has ridiculous flaws.

The system that was created is this:

When you first apply for credit, a file will automatically be created. WOOHOO. Genius. Now let me explain in a little more detail what I mean by this so you will have a clear idea what I am talking about. Let us say that you were born in 1991 and you are one of the lucky ones where your credit was never used by your family before you turn 18(yes it happens). So you now turn 18 and you want to go out and apply for your very first credit card or bank account. When the lender requests your credit for the very first time, they get a response that reads something like this “No Record Found”. Now if they go back 2 minutes later and request information on you again, they will get a response that reads something like this, “Insufficient Credit”. What does this mean? It means that the simple pull of your credit had created a new credit file. WOW. Exactly, I am sure you feel like I do.

Now, you will think that if you use a social that is already issued and used for credit, the bureaus will pick this up immediately. That’s not the case. I have seen cases where individuals buy a CPN and use it for months before the two files merge. Now what do I mean by the two files merging? At some point, something triggers the computers that the credit bureaus use to finally realize that one person is using two files or two people are using one number. At this point, all the credit from both files will be merged. There is no way to know if your old credit and the new file will merge or your new file and the previous owner of that number will merge.

In some cases you can buy a CPN from one of these frauds that was not issued to anyone and you will think that that is a good deal but this is the issue with that. First, let us understand  how social security numbers work. The first three numbers is created through some sought of charge to identify which state the SSN was issued. The second two numbers are suppose to indentify the year it was issued and the last four numbers just go in a sequence. Now let me give you a real life scenario that happened to clearly understand how these SSNs work.

When I first came to the US a number of years ago, I came to go to school. Being an immigrant means that I did not have a SSN so I had to be issued one. The international student association organized for all the international student to go at the same time. We then realized that all our social security numbers were one after each other. Who would have known that 10+ years later, this will give me insight on how SSNs work. So my friend’s social was 218-61-1000(an example), mine was 218-61-1001 and the others were 1002, 1003 and so on. Thinking back on how SSNs are issued, this situation showed me two things:

1. When these “Credit Gurus” aka Frauds, tell you that you need a social that’s issued in the year you were born, that’s wrong. You simply need a social issued in a year after you were born.
2. I better understand the sequences. 218 are socials issued in Maryland and 61 indentifies the year it was issued and the last four simply increase in order.

Now that we know all this you may want to know how SSNs are validated and viewed. So we know that due to various privacy laws, the banks and the credit bureaus cannot have the database of SSNs and names. So how do sites like ssnvalidator.com “validate” your so-called CPN? They do this through public information. The Social Security office publishes a list of sequences that are used in every state and the year that they are used. Because I know that 217-61-XXXX was issued in 2001 I checked to see if these sites are correct and they are. They simply use the public database of public information that the social security administration issued. Another way to test this is to go to one of those sites and put in 222-22-2222 and they will spit out a year and state they were issued. Also, the only way they can tell you if a social was not issued to anyone is it is a number in which the sequence isn’t used yet. The problem with these numbers is that some banks also check your ssn with the public information database. So most of these so-called CPNs that are being sold that pass the first basic scan by the banks are actually someone else’s social. This is a HUGE issue because if/when the two files merge, the person who owns that social will see all the accounts and tradelines on your file and now the word will be out.

The Inside Scoop on the Ads

I just want to touch quickly on many of these ads that are out there. You may see ads on craigslist or backpage that read like this, “Get a CPN with a tri-merge report. Only the pros will give you proof”. Or something like, “Receive a new credit file with a $500 Visa or Master Card and a $100 store card”.

Lets first talk about ad 1: “Get a CPN with a tri-merge report. Only the pros will give you proof”

A tri-merge report is simply a credit report of the new number. If they are using any service to pull credit in order to create the credit files, they automatically get the tri-merge report. Now any mortgage broker and most loan officers out there have access to such a system, so it doesn’t take a genius to produce a report. If the person are even more fraudulent, they can do something as simple as creating the number out of thin air, then use all the information provided and apply for any credit card on the internet. That will automatically create a file. Then, if they had a tri-merge report in pdf formal(as they usually come), they can use a pdf editor to create a fake clean report and send it to you via email.

Ad 2

When you are offered a credit card with the file you assume that everything is on the up and up. That’s not the case. The person selling you the file simply uses this new credit file created and applies to a bank that offers credit to people with no credit history. So basically these guys are first creating a file by pulling these numbers, name and address from some source and then applying for a credit card. This is all done in as little as 15 minutes and are selling these dangerous numbers on the internet for $500+. I know for a fact that most of the cards that are being offered are from Capital one, which is sad because if there are more and more fraudulent applications that are being approved everyday, they will stop giving credit to people who actually want to start establishing credit.

My conclusion and suggestion is that we should stick to the basics and build business credit. We should not try to overstep the law in anyway.

Marc