<prompt> Human: I work a second job at a small mom and pop business as a subcontractor. I have always been paid weekly by hand written checks and I am on a 1099. Today, I received a call from one of the owners asking me to give the owner my social security number and my banking information over the phone because the owner is setting up direct deposit for the business. I told the owner that I was at my other job and I would call this evening to discuss it. However, some questions immediately came to my mind so I texted the owner and asked. It turns out that I cannot opt out of the direct deposit because the owner says it would be an accounting mess to write checks to some employees and do direct deposit for other employees. All employees are going to be forced into direct deposit. The owner also stated that a local bank is going to be handling payroll through a payroll service they offer. I am uncomfortable with this. I have direct deposit now at my first job, but that is through a global corporation and there are protections in place to safeguard my information and bank account. Here, Im not being asked to sign anything, in fact the owner isnt giving me any paperwork at all. Im just supposed to call and hand over my information. Second, given that I am not being asked to sign anything..how do I know this information is actually going to a bank and the owner isnt just doing payroll off of the owners home computer that could be hacked? Are there any protections to stop the owner from removing money from my accountIm facing quitting my job tonight when I talk to the owner over this since I have no other option but to hand over all of my personal information and I thought I would ask a bunch of really smart people in this forum first. If you have any thoughts I would love to hear them. Thanks in advance. Edit: Thank you all for your time and for your opinions, they were very helpful!  <response>: Well you likely already had to give him your SSN for tax purposes, that our a TIN. Generally you just have to make a leap of faith with this stuff. If you read the news youll learn just as much about a global corporations with 8 figure infosec budgets that get hacked just as often as mom and pop places. I think at this point you just have to trust your gut about how you feel about this particular company and the honesty of its owners. I mean I could IM you a message right now with about 25M personal details including SSN numbers from my works database but I dont because Im an honest guy. Sure there are fraudulent ways to use your acct number and routing number to steal your money. Thats all that is on a paper check anyway. The whole system is based on trust. The protections are the legal system. 