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"Starting July 1st," the e-mail message read, "the four major credit bureaus in the U.S. will be allowed to release credit info, mailing addresses, phone numbers, etc., to ANYONE who requests it."
After seizing your attention with this awful news, the e-mail -- which was probably forwarded to you by a concerned friend or family member -- urges you to dial a toll-free number to opt out of this information-sharing free-for-all. The e-mail probably ends with a plea to forward the e-mail to everyone you know and may include a personal note from the sender, saying something like: "I did this, it just takes a minute and it works!"
A lot of otherwise smart people have fallen for this really annoying hoax. Repeatedly over the years, I've been sent this e-mail by readers and even sources, including a financial planner, whose acumen I otherwise respect.
The hoax is irritating in part because it would have taken these folks just a couple of minutes to check one of the many Web sites, such as David Emery's Urban Legends and Folklore, that debunk this and other e-mail myths.
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If you need the rundown on what's wrong with this e-mail, here's the list:
- It's bunk. The credit bureaus do not and will not release your credit history to "anyone who requests it." The bureaus sell information to lenders, insurers and others -- they don't give it away. The person or business requesting the information must have a legitimate reason for requesting it, as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Typically, you must either initiate a transaction with the business requesting the information or give it express permission to pull your report.
- July 1 is a noteworthy date, but it marks a marginal increase in your privacy protections, not a decrease. Something did change on July 1, but it was July 1, 2001, and it didn't have anything to do with your credit history. As of that date, banks, lenders and other financial institutions were required by the Financial Securities Modernization Act to tell you about their data-sharing policies and to give you the chance to prevent having some of your personal information shared or sold.
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- It's a real number, but it doesn't do what the e-mail purports. The phone number included in the e-mail connects you to an opt-out service, all right -- but it's an opt-out service for credit-card solicitations. Signing up through the toll-free number (888 5 OPT OUT) simply removes your name from marketing lists the bureaus sell to credit card lenders.
(The opt-out service is worth signing up for, by the way. I noticed a significant decline in the number of credit-card solicitations stuffed in our mailbox since we opted out several years ago.)
Continued: Read the fine print
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