Don’t Let your Banks Sell your Information!

Getting tired of those telemarketers who unbelievably know your phone number and even how fat your bank account is to offer you their very expensive services? Or tired of getting promotional pamphlets from people you don’t know enough to have business with? I understand you; I feel the same way. We aren’t alone. In fact, if you care to know, you can actually be protected from these promotional items and phone calls.
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act of 1999 is a law that gives you the right to tell your bank that you don’t want your information shared. However, this is only limited to their third parties that do not have affiliations with them. This means that banks can automatically exercise the right to share your information with companies affiliated with them or companies with joint marketing with them. Therefore, to at least decrease the number of those telemarketing calls, be wise and tell your bank — it is a firm NO!
But how do you do this? Well, you would be delighted to know that according to the same law mentioned earlier, financial institutions should give you a chance to say no before they give out your information to an unaffiliated third party. The question now is — have you cared to read a letter from your bank that says “Privacy Notice,” “Privacy Policy”, and “Opt-out Notice”? I highly doubt you that you did. You can’t be blamed though because financial institutions can pick any month in a year to send this privacy letter. If you have not had the chance to see it, you can always call these institutions to ask questions and finally tell them that you don’t want them selling your information.
Good News!Another thing that you need to know is that once you have already signed an opt-out notice, this is already good for as long as your business stands with them. There is absolutely no need to renew each year. However, for new accounts (even if it is from the same institution or not) you should still receive this opt-out letter.
Finally, you would be delighted to know that some states already have a policy to automatically opt you in. This means financial institutions would automatically lose its rights to share your information to an unaffiliated third party and even companies with joint marketing them unless you give them a ‘go signal’ to do so. You may want to know if your state is one of these states so go one and do your homework and stop banks from this hideous work!