Vocalist.org archive


From:  MFoxy9795@a...
MFoxy9795@a...
Date:  Wed May 9, 2001  9:49 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] credit



I was glad to find out about this through this list. I had not heard of it
anywhere else. This is absolutely outrageous that this stuff slips by the
average consumer.

On a brighter note, I found out through someone at a mortgage co. that you
can call any of the three credit reporting agencies and have them research
any item on your credit report you want to dispute. if they do not get a
letter back in response to their letter to the entity that put the entry
there, which apparently they don't most of the time, the credit reporting
agency has to delete it from your report.

> PRIVACY-U.S. pushes envelopes on financial privacy
>
> By Andrew Clark
>
>
> WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - Americans who keep a bank account,
own
> stocks, or have an insurance policy, and that's most of the population,
have
>
> got mail. Lots of it.
>
> Working under a deadline of July 1, U.S. financial services companies
> have been sending out a tidal wave of mail telling customers how their
> personal information is collected and protected, and to give limited
control
>
> over how it is used.
>
> Simply tossing the notices in the trash -- an understandable response
to
>
> the coming paper onslaught -- could cost consumers the chance to keep the
> details of their financial lives out of the hands of telemarketers and
other
>
> outside firms.
>
> 'I don't think it's unfair to estimate there'll probably be close to
> half
> a billion notices mailed,' said John Byrne, senior counsel at the American
> Bankers Association.
>
> For major U.S. financial firms, complying with the consumer privacy
> protections included in the landmark law that broke down Depression-era
> barriers between banks, brokers and insurers has been a massive logistics
> challenge.
>
> Citigroup (C.N) expects to send out around 90 million privacy notices
to
>
> its customers. Bank of America (BAC.N) is working its way through over 60
> million.
>
> For consumers, it has meant the need to look carefully at a growing
> number of pamphlets showing up as inserts in monthly bank, credit card and
> investment account statements, or as stand-alone mailings. Average,
> middle-income households are expected to receive as many as 12 to 15
> separate
> notices.
>
> Apart from detailing their privacy policies, the new rules also
require
> financial firms to give customers the chance to opt out of having personal
> information -- like account balances, account numbers or spending records
--
>
> shared with or sold to outside companies, such as telemarketers.
>
> Most are expected to offer the option through a toll-free number,
while
> others may include a return mailing with their notices. If customers do
not
> respond, they are assumed to have agreed to the dissemination of their
> personal data.
>
> READ 'EM AND WEEP
>
> Putting the onus on consumers irks many privacy advocates, who sparred
> bitterly with the financial industry over the scope of the new law shared
> within increasingly-diversified U.S. financial conglomerates, that
companies
>
> should have to get customers' explicit consent, as they do in Europe,
before
>
> releasing any personal data, and that the current rules are full of holes.
>
> 'These companies can share information with all of their many third
> parties, even if you do say no,' said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program
> director Public Interest Research Group.
>
> Mierzwinski and others also say they fear many consumers are not going
> to
> understand the limited new rights they do have because the privacy notices
> being sent out are too confusing. Privacy notices from major U.S. banks,
> concluding they were written, on average, at around a third- or
fourth-year
> college reading level. Literacy experts usually recommend that materials
> aimed at the general public be written at around a high school reading
level.
>
>
> On the widely-used Flesch Reading Ease scale -- which calculates
> readability based on factors such as average syllables per word and
average
> words per sentence -- the notices recorded scores ranging from 43, rated
> 'difficult,' to as low as 22, 'very difficult,' Hochhauser found.
>
> Several U.S. states already use the scale to set plain English
> requirements for insurance policies, with Connecticut and Florida
requiring
> minimum scores of 45 and Maine mandating a 50. None of the privacy notices
> would meet those standards.
>
> 'That's pretty difficult reading for most people,' Hochhauser said.
'And
>
> if people have a hard time reading something, either they're not going to
> read it at all, or they'll quit partway through, or they'll misunderstand
it.
> '
>
> UNDER SCRUTINY
>
> That sort of predictions have both consumer and industry groups
watching
>
> closely to see how Americans actually do respond to the deluge of notices,
> anticipating that could itself become a factor in their ongoing debate.
>
> And while they remain deeply divided whether new steps are needed to
> protect privacy in an increasingly wired financial world, they appear
united
>
> in one thing: low expectations.
>
> 'Anecdotally, banks that have sent out the bulk of their notices are
not
>
> getting a lot of response -- either questions about the notice or
opt-outs,'
>
> the ABA's Byrne said.
>
> A similar opt-out under the U.S. Fair Credit Reporting Act allows
> consumers to tell companies that get their credit reports not to share
them
> among affiliates, but typically only around 0.5 percent have chosen to do
so,
>
> he added.
>
> 'I think this will have a low opt-out rate because, firstly, the
rights
> are so weak and, secondly, companies are sending out gibberish,' U.S.
PIRG's
>
> Mierzwinski said.
>
> Political analysts see the prospects for more congressional action in
> the
> financial privacy area as remote for the time being, with lawmakers
focusing
>
> on more general concerns relating to the Internet and the use of
electronic
> databases.
>
> Skirmishes are expected to continue at the U.S. state level, with at
> least 30 considering proposals going beyond the requirements of the new
> federal law. But concerted industry lobbying succeeded in beating back
> similar moves last year.
>
> 'Barring a hue and cry from bank customers, it's going to be hard to
> make
> the policy case that we need additional laws specifically directed at
> financial services,' Byrne said.

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