Is Your Personal Info Being Bought and Sold?

There are thousands of companies on the internet that are just waiting to collect your personal information with the intention of selling it to a third party. There’s a lot of money involved in this kind of business. In fact, this practice has become so widespread that one of the three major credit bureaus (Trans Union) has even gotten into the business. Because this practice poses a serious conflict of interest for them—and violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act—they’ve been sued and found guilty in court. Unfortunately, the majority of companies selling your information won’t be stopped by the courts and it’s up to you to stop them instead. 

Several companies which engage in this kind of exchange of your information claim that they will not sell your information to others, but they technically "trade" it to other companies who in turn might sell it. If a website you visit asks for information that you would not want public, then it’s better to say goodbye and close the window because there is no guarantee that information will be kept private.  Another way your personal information can get disseminated is through money lenders. Banks and mortgage institutions want to make a profit from the personal information that you have already given them. However, since applications for mortgages are protected by the Consumer Privacy Act, it becomes unlawful for money lenders to sell any information you submitted without your prior consent in writing.

But that doesn’t stop lenders from trying to trick you into giving them permission.  Almost every mortgage application comes with a consent form. There is no typical format for this but it gives you the choice of opting in or out of their program on sharing information. Make sure you always opt out. If you check the box to opt in, then you are giving the lender written consent to sell your personal information to hundreds of others, putting yourself at a risk for identity theft. The more information about you that is made public, the higher your risk is for becoming a victim of identity theft. Right now, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America with between nine and ten million people falling victim to the crime each year. It is important for consumers to take necessary identity theft protection steps in order to safeguard their personal information. 

So how do you prevent identity theft? Although it’s a problem that cannot be fully eradicated, you can try and fight it in several ways.

1) Control who you divulge your personal information to. Although there are quite a few genuine companies who do serious marketing and send coupons to their customers from their databases, there are others who view your information as another way to make easy money simply by selling it to other companies. Make sure you inquire about a company’s privacy policy before divulging any information to them. 

2) Opt out of the list of pre-approved offers.More and more companies and government agencies are allowing your freedom when it comes to choosing how your information is handled. Whenever possible opt out of any offer to have your information shared with “partners” or anyone else. Since rules for opting out vary, you will need to check with each agency directly in order to know your rights. In addition to checking with companies that sell your products, you may also want to inquire with the DWV and all three major credit bureaus: Trans Union, Experian and Equifax.

3) Make sure you verify your credit report annually. Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, all individuals are entitled to one free credit report a year from each of the three major credit bureaus. This is perhaps the most effective way to ensure that your identity has not been stolen, as most fraudulent activity would be easily detected on your credit report. Since not all information will appear on each of the three reports, it is recommended that you do check all three reports. You can obtain them all at once, or space them out throughout the course of a year.

As you work toward protecting your identity from companies who will sell your information to others, the following resources will be helpful to you:

https://www.optoutprescreen.com - This website allows you to opt-out of all prescreened credit card, loan and insurance offers for five years, thus significantly reducing the amount of junk mail you receive and limiting your vulnerability to identity theft. By filling out a form online, all three major credit bureaus will be prevented from sharing your information with lenders who want to approve you for credit you don’t need. You can choose to opt back in anytime. 
https://www.donotcall.gov - Since many identity thieves are known to call their victims posing as a bank or financial institution willing to extend credit to them, it might be a good idea to register with the national Do Not Call registry to help eliminate any real (yet still annoying) phone calls from actual telemarketers. That way, if you do receive a phone call from someone asking for your personal information it will be even easier to identify any suspicious behavior.