Everything You Need To Know About CPNs... And Why We Don't Accept Them

You may have heard of the term "CPN" regarding credit scoring. This is a term that comes into play especially when dealing with credit repair services. On the internet, you can find the following definitions of what “CPN” or “CPN number” means:

  • Credit privacy number
  • Credit profile number
  • Consumer protection number

When you have a poor credit score it can become a massive barrier when applying for an auto or home loan, a credit card, a new apartment, or even a job. There are many companies that promote the use of CPN on credit applications, and they are targeting people with poor credit. So what actually is a CPN?

A CPN has a formatting similar to a Social Security Number and consists of a 9-digit number, allowing various parties to market it as a replacement for a Social Security Number (SSN). Although we've read stories about celebrities and some government workers using CPNs to protect their privacy, we have yet to discover a single case of the legitimate use of a CPN for credit building or improvement. As far as we know, they are completely illegal unless specifically issued by a government agency for a special purpose and there is little-to-no information available about how and what may dictate those circumstances, if any.

How CPNs Are Created

One way of creating a CPN is to steal the identity of individuals who rarely accesses their credit reports, such as children, the elderly, inmates, the homeless, or even dead people. The use of a CPN is essentially considered identity theft, and according to the Federal Trade Commission, using a CPN on any credit or loan application in place of your SSN is a Federal crime. It is punishable by hefty fines or even prison time. The CPN scammers take addresses or phone numbers from one person and combine them with the social security numbers or CPNs from another person, thus creating a completely synthetic credit profile. A fake person, if you will.

These synthetic identities can be - and often are - used to open new credit accounts with the intent never to pay them off. Under such circumstances, the lenders have difficulty collecting the debt since these accounts belong to fake identities that don't truly exist, not real people. Several U.S. Government authorities, such as FTC and U.S. Attorneys have passed new laws recently to clamp down on identity theft fraud. As a result, lenders continually develop and implement new identity verification measures such as new electronic systems including voice recognition tools, among many others.

Since using CPNs is illegal, we do not offer, allow, or permit CPNs for buying or selling on our platform. We only work with valid SSNs and we verify all documentation submitted by our clients using third-party databases to protect our cardholders and customers. If a client provides a CPN instead of a valid SSN, we will not process the order and we will not give a refund.

Instead of going the route of dealing with CPN, try improving or rebuilding your credit profile by using traditional, albeit longer, credit boosting methods, such as:

  • Removing erroneous items from your report
  • Making on-time payments
  • Adding aged or seasoned positive accounts to your credit (including authorized user tradelines)
  • Ensuring that your credit card utilization is low
  • Keeping a watchful eye on your credit report
  • ..... and similar healthy practices

If you're approached by a company, or are seeking credit services and suspect them of using (or are encouraged to use) a CPN, turn the other way immediately and seek a reliable service to help build your credit score. When you're focusing on doing things right, and the last thing you need is serious legal problems due to something that's completely avoidable.