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We routinely give our personal information to companies that provide us with goods and services. However, we want to have some control over how they store and use our private information—especially our private financial information. We also want to limit the amount of unwanted mail, email, and telephone calls we receive. Concern about these issues has led to the enactment of several laws and regulations.
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) covers online collection of personal information from children under age 13. COPPA spells out the responsibilities of website operators regarding children's online safety and privacy. Financial institutions that operate a website or online service directed to children fall under this regulation. Learn more. Read Facts for Consumers: Protecting Kids' Privacy on the Federal Trade Commission website.
Congress enacted the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM) to protect the public from unwanted marketing email and from email containing sexually explicit text and images. CAN-SPAM attempts to reduce this type of communication by
Financial institutions fall under the marketing provisions of the CAN-SPAM act. Learn more. Read Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts on the Federal Communications Commission website and OCC's Answers about Bank Solicitations.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) (PDF) gives you the right to see your credit records and correct any mistakes. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) helps you protect your credit identity by allowing you to receive a free credit report once a year from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. A rule based on these laws also helps you limit the number of solicitations you get from companies that want to sell you credit-related services. This rule requires companies to
Learn more. Read about identity theft, credit reporting, fair credit reporting on the Federal Trade Commission website.
You have probably received privacy notices in the mail from banks, other financial institutions, or insurance companies. Those notices explain what personal financial information the company collects about you, how the company protects your information, whether the company intends to share your information with other companies, and what you can do to limit that sharing. Two federal laws cover your personal financial privacy: The Fair Credit Reporting Act (PDF) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Learn more. Read Privacy Choices for Your Personal Financial Information on the Federal Trade Commission website.
The Right to Financial Privacy Act (RFPA) (PDF) protects the privacy of your financial accounts from government scrutiny. Before the enactment of RFPA, you could not challenge government access to your financial records. In fact, you had no way of knowing that your bank had provided your records to a government authority. In general, and with some exceptions, the RFPA requires that you must receive
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) (PDF) protects you from, among other things, unwanted telephone marketing calls from companies that want to sell you goods or services. Congress passed TCPA in response to consumer complaints regarding increased and intrusive telemarketing. This act led to the establishment of the National Do Not Call Registry. You can add your telephone number(s) to this registry to reduce the number of unsolicited telephone calls you receive. Learn more. Read Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts on the Federal Communications Commission website.
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Fighting Back Against Identity Theft
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Get answers to questions and file a complaint at HelpWithMyBank.gov