Expert: Melissa Douros - 11/26/2008

Question
if the plaintiff wins a case in small claims court because the defendant is a no show, and all the plaintiff has is the defendants name and address...
1.  is it possible for the plaintiff acquire the defendants SS#
2.  do you need a SS# to put them in collections.
3.  is putting it in collections the same thing as getting it marked on your credit?
In short, i guess my question is...can you mark someones credit by not having their SS#?

Answer
Aycia, you do not need a social security number to place a debtor in collections, and also, many times the collection agency can find the social security number with their skiptracing methods.

Collections is the first step, after it has been there for a certain amount of time, 60 days, 90 days, etc, the collection agency will then generally put it on their credit.  So they are not the same thing, but both lead to the end result.