StreetWise - Protecting Your Privacy, Your Identity, and Your Money

Protecting Your Privacy, Your Identity, and Your Money

By Remar Sutton
DCU StreetWise National Spokesperson

Opt Out of Having Your Information Shared

You can easily write letters to opt out of having your personal information shared with a variety of companies using the free Junkbusters DECLARE service from Junkbusters.com.

Place your phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry to put a stop to many telemarketing calls. Go to www.donotcall.gov or call toll-free 1-888-382-1222 (TTY, 1-866-290-4236) from the phone you wish to register.

Make a Complaint

In addition to reporting fraud or identity theft to your state attorney general’s office you can file a complaint with the appropriate federal agency.

ID Theft—Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Fraud—Internet, telephone communications, retail—Federal Trade Commission

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)— A partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).

Take One Hour to Take Four Steps to Protect Your Privacy

What can you easily do to protect your privacy? Chris Hoofnagel, head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center recommends the following four steps to opt out of certain info sharing. They take about an hour but make a big difference

Call your phone companies and opt-out of “CPNI” sharing.

Call your banks, insurance companies, and brokerage houses to opt-out under *both* the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (sometimes there is no option to opt-out of FCRA, but you can almost always opt-out under GLBA).

Call the FTC do-not-call database, and opt-out of telemarketing. 1-888-382-1222; for TTY, call 1-866-290-4236.

Go to junkbusters.com, and do “Junkbusters Declare”

These four steps will take about an hour. But the reduction in marketing will be significant!

This handout for Remar Sutton's Privacy seminars was prepared by Remar Sutton, DCU’s Streetwise National Spokesperson & Remar Sutton Associates for DCU Streetwise, reviewed and updated April 2008. All rights reserved.

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