It's not true...this is from
Snopes Claim: The four major U.S. credit bureaus will be allowed to share your credit information with anyone who requests it as of July 1 2003 unless you specifically request to be excluded.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2001]
Just wanted to let everyone know who hasn't already heard, the four major credit bureaus in the US. will be allowed, starting July 1, to release your credit info, mailing addresses, phone numbers etc. to anyone who requests it. If you would like to 'opt out' of this release of info, you can call 1-888-567-8688. It only takes a couple of minutes to do, and you can take care of anyone else in the household while making only one call, you'll just need to know their social security number. Be sure to listen closely, the first opt out is only for two years, make sure you wait until they prompt you to press '3' on your keypad to opt out for good.
Origins: Here we have another case of a message that has its share of misinformation even when it was new; now it keeps get dusted off and sent around every year with an updated deadline. The original message applied to legislation that was to take effect in 2001, and the effect of that legislation was (and continues to be) misreported.
The key point is that -- contrary to the text of the above dire warning -- credit bureaus cannot sell your credit information to 'anyone who requests it.' Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1997, businesses seeking to obtain personal information from credit bureaus must have a 'permissible purpose' in order to access credit reports. (Permissible purposes include checking the backgrounds of persons to determine their creditworthiness before selling or renting property to them, extending them loans or credit, or considering them for employment.) This restriction remains in force, it did not change on July 1, 2001, and it still applies whether or not you call the number listed above.
What did change was that due to the implementation of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act) the banking, insurance, and securities industries are now allowed to operate under the same corporate affiliation. (This act set aside legislation passed during the Depression era, which had created legal barriers that prevented mergers between banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms, and other financial institutions.) Because of consumers' concerns that new financial conglomerates could violate their privacy by sharing huge new databases of sensitive customer information with third parties, Congress added a provision to the act requiring that all financial service companies send privacy notices providing a 'reasonable opportunity' to opt out of this information-sharing to all their customers by July 1. (These notices must also tell you the kinds of information the companies collect about you and how they use that information.)
Some key points of this 'opt-out' process are:
As the term 'opt out' implies, financial institutions can share your information with third parties by default -- you must specifically request that they not do so to stop it.
Privacy notices had to be sent to customers by July 1, 2001, but there is no deadline by which customers must respond. Your right to 'opt out' of the information-sharing process is ongoing and may be invoked at any time.
Most importantly, you must contact every financial institution with which you do business to completely 'opt out' of the information-sharing process. The phone number shown in the message quoted above (1-888-5OPTOUT) is a shared number the four credit bureaus set up with Associated Credit Bureaus to establish a single point of contact for consumers to call to request that all four major U.S. credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union, and Novus/Innovis) remove their information from the marketing lists and pre-approved credit offer lists sold to third parties. This number applies only to credit bureaus -- calling this number will not affect the ability of any banks, insurance companies, credit card companies, brokerage firms, or any other financial institutions with which you do (or have done) business from sharing your information.
Soon after the original message began circulating, so did an egregiously inaccurate counter-message which attempted to 'correct' the original by spreading even more misinformation:
If anyone has received the e-mail OPT OUT @ Credit Bureaus - You need to read this!
Myvesta.org has just received the potential scam message, at the bottom of this alert message, which is circulating by email. We urge you to NOT call the phone number listed in any similar message you may receive. The danger of this message is that at face value it seems legitimate and when you call the toll-free number in the message it sounds very professional. It is a scam.
There are several critical flaws in the message. First, credit bureaus are not authorized to release your personal information to just anyone. The Fair Credit Reporting Act governs the permissible access of credit report information and access to just anyone who wants your information, is not one of those permissible reasons.
Second, when you call the toll-free number there is no identification of the party you have reached. If you fall for this scam and call the toll-free number you will be tricked into giving critical identifying information under the false pretense it will protect you from a scam.
If you know anyone who may have already fallen for this scam, you should contact them right away and advise them to monitor their credit report carefully over the next year and watch for new credit accounts they do not recognize. If they called the number and left their personal information,a crook could possibly open lines of credit using their information. This is serious. If you have already fallen for this scam and think you may be a victim of identity theft, we have made the following free publication, 'Identity Theft: How to protect yourself and what to do if you are a victim' available through our Web site. It is located in the Identity Theft section of our free publication directory.
Visit http://Myvesta.org If you need to access a current copy of your credit report you can do so through the Myvesta.org Web site or contact the resource you normally use to obtain a copy of your credit report. If you need additional help understanding your credit report once you obtain it, download our free publication 'How to Read Your Credit Report' in the free publication section of the Myvesta.org Web site at http://Myvesta.org
Please forward this message to anyone you want to warn about this serious credit scam. Below you will find a copy of the scam email which is currently circulating.There may be other similar ariations.
Sincerely,
The financial team at Myvesta.org
