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How Private Is Your Financial Data?

Posted by Cliff on from the does-your-bank-have-loose-lips dept.

Our bank, BankDirect, is mailing customers a 'Notice of your Financial Privacy Rights', containing the following text: 'We may disclose information about you to our affiliates. Here are the kinds of information and the source of that information: Information about your transactions and experience with us, such as: Name, address, account balances, account activity, types of accounts, transaction history, and payment history. Federal law allows us to disclose the information listed above with our affiliates. You do not have the right to opt out of the disclosure of this information...We may disclose information about you to our affiliates: 1) to provide you with information about additional products and services; and 2) to better serve you, to help us save you time and money, and to help you understand your specific needs.' Am I the only one who is bothered that my bank is ready to share my transaction history, including my salary (direct deposit) and payments to merchants (online bill pay)? More importantly, are there any banks that don't share (or sell) their customers' private information? I couldn't help but notice that BankDirect's web site has a different privacy policy, which reassuringly states 'We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you.' Hmmm..."

4 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Contradiction by bwhaley · · Score: 3, Interesting

    BankDirect's web site has a different privacy policy, which reassuringly states 'We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you.' Hmmm..."

    Wow. That seems like a glaring contradiction to me. How could they send out the e-mail you included above when their privacy policy is much more conservative? That seems like a lawsuit in the making...

    ----
    "For a number of years I have been familiar with the observation that the quality of programmers is a decreasing function of the density of go to statements in the programs they produce."
    - Edsger Djikstra

    --
    "I either want less corruption, or more chance
    to participate in it." -- Ashleigh Brilliant
  2. Kee you wealth in Gold by stonebeat.org · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The only way to keep your keep you financial data private, is to keep you in Gold in a safe deposit in a bank. Moreover Gold has intrinsic value as compared to paper money that has no intrinsic value.

    --


    Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
    1. Re:Kee you wealth in Gold by isorox · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Gold is only worth something as long as people demand it. Admittably Gold is worth something in the real world (electronics, beauty), but so are cigarettes. A good medium of exchange is
      1) Small enough to handle
      2) Split into small denominations
      3) Durable (If gold is useful in electronics, it means its less durable, like cigarettes that are smoked, and pigs that die)
      4) Most importantly, accepted as payment

      If people suddenly decided not to accept gold as payment, then you're stuffed. Diversity will save you. Keep some physical assests that dont depreciate much (or even get more valuable as time goes on), keep bundles of cash from US Dolalrs, Euros, Yen, Sterling, Brazillian currency, couple of middle eastern ones, austrailian, south africa and maybe Russian and keep gold, platinum, silver, oil and other valuable commodities in various locations arround the world (in case of nuclear attack/change of government).

  3. a few thoughts by steve.m · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here in the UK, rival banks make it very easy to switch - all you do is sign once and they move all your direct debits, etc. for you (I get frequent offers but I'm happy with my bank right now, so I don't know how well that works)

    If you can't find a privacy friendly bank, or it's insanely hard to get all your banking services transfered, you could always randomize your spending habbits:

    1. Withdraw all your cash and pay for everything through the whole month in cash

    2. Withdraw all your cash and then pay it back in 2 days later. repeat.

    3. Pay for everything on a credit card, then clear it at the end of the month.

    4. Make frequent small withdrawls instead of weekly large withdrawls

    at least then, you'll be partly masking what you're upto and providing less valuable information to their 'partners'....