Block CPF

Hi Matt,

No I think you misunderstood what was said or the person misunderstood what you were saying.

The CPF is of course used for a number of things apart from being your tax number. It is also used to access your credit history. If you don't pay your debts you end up with what is called "nome sujo" and your ability to obtain credit, open bank accounts from that point on gets blocked, not the CPF number itself.

Only the Receita Federal can suspend or cancel your CPF. Suspension is a result of owing them taxes and cancellation is because the cardholder has died.

CPF is exactly like SSN pretty much then.

Yes, but with one very big exception. A SSN is private. A CPF is not.

Hi Tiger,

A person's CPF is like a SSN on steroids...... it contains all of your credit history, addresses, purchasing habits and everything else because it is not the least bit private.

Any merchant can pop your CPF number into his store's computer and find out not only every product you ever bought from him, but from anybody else too. He can find out your mother and father's names, birthplaces, occupations, your birth weight, when you let your very first fart, what size and color your underwear are and probably even how often you change them.

Losing any of your personal documents here in Brazil especially your CPF and/or Carteira de Identidade Estrangeiro is serious business here, You need to spend all day in the delegacia to report the loss and even then your whole identity gets stolen, you'll get all kinds of crazy bills, bad credit reports and maybe even arrest warrants issued in your name in places you've never even heard of, let alone ever been.