[mcv]

But isn't your SSN given by the government? Does the US government require anyone to sign such an agreement before they get an SSN? Without it, a bank claiming I owe them money because "we got your SSN" is fraudulent, plain and simple. Report the bank to the FBI.

But that's probably far too sensible European thinking.

I regularly keep hearing reports of how the US handling of money is basically medieval with some badly thought out insecure bits pasted on top. And some of that gets exported! It sucks that I need to own a credit card to be able to make international purchases on the internet. Why is there not an international version of iDEAL?