# How to check the status of your SIN?



## Tetsujin (Mar 17, 2016)

Does anyone know how to check all movements, status, transactions with your SIN?

I'm not Canadian-born citizen. I used my SIN just when I opened a banking accounts, when I applied to subventioned education, when I bought my car (financial supervisor), submitting my income tax. 

At that moment that I arrived here I've been strongly advised to keep my SIN as secret. I had no need to use my SIN as I've already mentioned, but now I want to trade in the market and discount brokers would ask in their agreements that they need to disclosure my information including SIN to shareholders and third-party companies. If not I need to present a declaration with a photo anytime that someone request for my info. I 'm thinking at this moment of CRA, maybe.

As I start to expose more my SIN, is there a way to track all your movements with it?

I usually go to Equifax to check my credit report. Everythin clean but sometimes I get amazed for the number of companies that check my credit report or financial status. Even phone companies.

In order to prevent fraud, do you know where to go or contact with? Any federal service to check up status of your SIN?


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Every financial institution with whom you do business has the obligation to ask for your SIN. The SIN is the mechanism in which financial institutions such as banks and brokerages report your financial transactions to the CRA (asset purchases and sales, investiment income, bank interest, etc.). So do any institutions providing you with credit (including an auto loan finance company) so that they can check your credit rating. That includes phone and utility companies, albeit the latter will often take a deposit instead.

This is important to help reduce fraudulent transactions, e.g. people ripping off lending institutions, not paying their fair share of taxes, etc. It is a good thing.

To my knowledge, no other entity can ask for your SIN.


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

AltaRed said:


> Every financial institution with whom you do business has the obligation to ask for your SIN. The SIN is the mechanism in which financial institutions such as banks and brokerages report your financial transactions to the CRA (asset purchases and sales, investiment income, bank interest, etc.). So do any institutions providing you with credit (including an auto loan finance company) so that they can check your credit rating. That includes phone and utility companies, albeit the latter will often take a deposit instead.
> 
> This is important to help reduce fraudulent transactions, e.g. people ripping off lending institutions, not paying their fair share of taxes, etc. It is a good thing.
> 
> To my knowledge, no other entity can ask for your SIN.


Every institution giving you money needs your SIN.

No obligation to give your SIN to a debt holder.


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## Tetsujin (Mar 17, 2016)

AltaRed said:


> Every financial institution with whom you do business has the obligation to ask for your SIN. The SIN is the mechanism in which financial institutions such as banks and brokerages report your financial transactions to the CRA (asset purchases and sales, investiment income, bank interest, etc.). So do any institutions providing you with credit (including an auto loan finance company) so that they can check your credit rating. That includes phone and utility companies, albeit the latter will often take a deposit instead.
> 
> This is important to help reduce fraudulent transactions, e.g. people ripping off lending institutions, not paying their fair share of taxes, etc. It is a good thing.
> 
> To my knowledge, no other entity can ask for your SIN.


Thanks for you reply. I know the importance of the SIN number and the implications when you give your number to authorized entities. I don't want to ask for SIN of someone else than mine. I heard of people who can come and work illegally and if you lose your CARD (you shouldn't carry it with you) someone else can report your SIN to an employer in order to receive money in cash, then the employer reports it to CRA, you will pay more income taxes. Very improbable but could happen.

Sometimes it worries me when I give my SIN number to institutions specially through Internet as the case I recently joined Questrade, but I understand that they need to report it to CRA. I went to an organization for enterprenerial courses which were subventioned and I needed to pay a reasonable price, but they ask me for my SIN, if not I could ask for an attested declaration with a police officer just to confirm that I'm the person that it should be.

So I thought that there was a securised online services (TLS) like CRA's web page to see your income tax return from previous years you could check your status as citizen.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

One has to be careful about identity theft and limit the disclosure of your SIN only to those with a right to know. I never have a problem giving my SIN on an Internet application to someone like Questrade that has to have it. After all, that is what secure (https) websites are for.

FWIW, if you establish a My account with CRA, you can see everything on your income tax file that CRA has in their data. An easy way to spot nefarious data if someone has stolen your identity

FWIW2, I have no idea what you are talking about regarding "entreprenurail courses" that needed a disclosure of SIN. That is not even legal to ask for that UNLESS (perhaps maybe?)you are looking for a tuition tax slip from that institutions to use as a tax deduction on your income tax return. It's been decades since I've seen tuition tax slips.

FWIW3, you can pay outfits like Equifax (credit rating agency) for services that include scouring the Internet for fraudulent use of your SIN. They have algorithms and ways to dig into nether regions of the net to look for SIN matches. I have an account with Equifax that advises me on certain things regarding identify theft but I don't pay for their full package.


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