by Andrew B. Anello CFP®, Senior Partner
Although you may continue to receive unwanted emails more than 20 years after the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, there are some classic financial privacy tools which still have relevance.
Annual Privacy Notice is a document that financial institutions are required to send to clients every 12 months notifying clients how information is shared among the firm and third party institutions. In many cases, this notice will include instructions of how to opt out or restrict how your information is shared.
Annual Credit Report In 2005, the Federal Trade Commission(“FTC”) amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act requiring the three largest credit reporting agencies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, to establish a free service for consumers to request their respective credit reports. There have been many clones, but Annual Credit Report is the one required by the FTC. You may request your reports online, by phone or postal mail. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/
Opt-Out PreScreen One of the surprises you may discover on your credit report, in addition to a rogue video rental late fee from the 1990s, is a monthly inquiry on your credit requested by a financial institution you have not done any business with. Institutions are able to make unsolicited credit inquiries and the information is often sold to third parties. You have the ability to opt out of these credit inquiries at https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ By doing so, it will not affect your ability to apply for credit at any time or for institutions you are currently doing business with from making an inquiries as part of any existing agreements.
Do Not Call rules were established as a result of the peek cold calling in the 1990s which seem to be technologically out of step with the robocalls we still experience today. With the addition of artificial intelligence using elements of conversation and imperfection, it may get worse before it gets better. Likewise, your voice may be sampled and replicated with something as innocuous as your voicemail if you’ve recorded your own voice. Traditional cold callers, if there is such a term, may be aware that a violation of the Do Not Call(“DNC”) provision of the Telemarketing Solicitation Rule can have a fine of up to $43,792 per call if you’ve previously requested to be on the caller’s DNC list more than 30 days prior. So asking the caller to add you to their do not call list still works in most cases. You can also add your phone number(s) to the national DNC registry at https://www.donotcall.gov/
*The information contained in this communication is deemed to be from reliable sources, although Rosefinch Investment Advisors, Inc. has not verified the accuracy of this content.
