OPT-OUT!!

What Are All These Privacy Notices?

Updated 12 June 03

Here's some information about the Internet email regarding privacy threats. It actually is a good idea to call the number and optout, although for different reasons than what's in the inaccurate Internet post. See below. If you cannot get through to the telephone number 1-888-5-OPTOUT or 1-888-567-8688 because the # is busy, go to http://www.ftc.gov and file an online complaint.

[Some versions of the email link to our website, but we have nothing to do with it.]

WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE CREDIT CARD OFFERS I GET IN THE MAIL? Credit bureaus sell banks lists of consumers who meet certain pre-screened credit criteria. These lists result in 5 billion credit offers mailed out annually, or an average of 8 per household per month. Under a law known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to opt-out of receiving these offers. You can make one phone call to 1-888-567-8688 [1-888-5-OPTOUT] to opt-out of all pre-screened offers -- First select Option 2-- (Option 1 provides information -- from the credit bureau point of view -- about the Internet Email). Then, you'll have a new menu. Be sure to select the "permanent" opt-out (now OPTION 2, formerly Option 3 as most weird emails state) not the absurd 2 years-only opt-out (OPTION 1). This is a legitimate phone number, required by law-- but see our 2001 letter to the Federal Trade Commission in response to the weird emails circulating around the Internet confusing this opt-out with other privacy rights.

PIRG continues (in May 2003) to receive complaints about the email floating around the Internet regarding 1-888-5-OPTOUT: We are disappointing that the FTC, which promised in 2001 to look into the 1-888-opt-out issue, has done nothing. The e-mail? No, it is not a scam, but it is confusing. 1-888-5-OPT-OUT ((888) 567-8688) is a legitimate toll-free number that connects you with a service run jointly by 4 national credit bureaus (although they don't clearly say so when you call) that have a legal right to sell your name for credit card (and insurance) solicitations (You know the letters, "You have been pre-approved for this credit card.") unless you call this number and say no. The credit bureaus were ordered by Congress to create this shared one-call opt-out system in 1996. Nothing in the law requires credit bureaus to collect SSNs, and we've asked the FTC to stop that, but they haven't.

Check the coalition webpage and find out more about the very limited opt-out that actually did take effect on July 1st, 2001 under the Gramm Leach Bliley Act. Find out more about the weird emails from our colleagues at Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

Here's one wrong version of the email-- YOU WANT OPTION 2 (Permanent OPTOUT). --
"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 your info, you can
call 1-888-567-8688. It only takes a couple of minutes to do. Once the
message starts you'll choose option #2 (even though option #1 refers to this
E-mail) and then option #3 - Be sure to listen closely, the first option is
only for a two-year period. Make sure you wait until they prompt for the
third option, which opts you out forever." This is wrong. It is now option 2.

RESOURCES

PIRG and other groups have urged government regulators to improve the opt-out process. We filed a formal petition in July. No word back yet, except from one obscure agency. Our coalition has a special website devoted to explaining all this in detail -- it includes video clips from our news conference in June condemning the shoddy unintelligible privacy notices.

You can see the state PIRG's latest testimony on information sharing and the new law by going to the web site of the House of Representatives.

See PIRG's main privacy page for more, including a link to our history of financial information sharing.

The web site for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse contains several detailed
Gramm-Leach-Bliley opt-out fact sheets--here's one.