If you have any sort of financial account, you’ve probably gotten one of these privacy forms in the mail:
The information they are talking about can include:
- Social Security number
- How much you make (Income)
- How much money you have (Balances)
- What you buy (Transaction history)
- How much you borrow (Credit and payment history)
The amount of sharing varies widely:
- For our affiliates to market to you = We can share with companies who are under the same ownership or control.
- For non-affiliates to market to you = We can sell your information to anyone! They don’t even have to be financially-related companies.
These companies lobbied heavily to make these forms work on an Opt-Out basis instead of Opt-In. That means that unless you tell them not to, they can share however they want. The fact that you are busy with your own life benefits them by default.
It is just so tempting to not bother, but if you can commit a chunk of time, I’ve tried to collect the information for most of the largest financial institutions below. That way, you can knock them all out at once, and hopefully be done for a few years at least. You’ll often need the bank account or credit card number to complete the form.
* If you are really short on time: At the time of writing here are the companies that share with non-affiliates: Ally, Capital One, Chase, Citibank (bank and credit cards), Discover, FIA Cardservices. Opt out of these first, if applicable.
Ally Financial
- Privacy Notice
- Online: ally.com/privacy/preferences
- Phone: 1-800-204-2197
American Express
- Privacy Notice
- Online: americanexpress.com/communications
- Phone: 1-855-297-7748
Bank of America
- Privacy Notice
- Online: bofa.com/privacy
- Phone: 1-888-341-5000
Barclaycard US
- Privacy Notice
- Online: n/a
- Phone: 1-866-698-0236
Capital One
- Privacy Notice
- Online: n/a
- Phone: 1-888-817-2970
Charles Schwab
- Privacy Notice
- Online: n/a
- Phone: 877-812-1817
Chase
- Privacy Notice
- Online: Chase.com/privacypreferences
- Phone: 1-800-493-3319 or 1-888-868-8618
Citibank (Bank Accounts)
- Privacy Notice
- Online: n/a
- Phone: 1-888-214-0017
Citi Credit Cards
- Privacy Notice
- Online: n/a
- Phone: 1-877-640-3983
Discover Card
- Privacy Notice
- Online: n/a
- Phone: 1-800-225-5202
FIA Cardservices
- Privacy Notice
- Online: n/a
- Phone: 1-866-325-8310
US Bank
- Privacy Notice
- Online: usbank.com/privacy and tell us your preference on the “Exercise Your Privacy Choice” page.
- Phone: 1-800-370-8580
Wells Fargo
- Privacy Notice
- Online: Log on to wellsfargo.com, and choose Change Privacy Preferences under the Account Services tab.
- Phone: 1-888-528-8460
My biggest problem with these privacy notices is I can never remember if I’ve already opted out a particular account, and they don’t tell you. I wish they wouldn’t keep sending the notices after I’ve already opted out,
Thank you for this comprehensive list. Wish Bureau of Consumer Protection does something about forcing these financial institutions to setup one online portal so we can Opt-Out. Better would be make it Opt-Out as default for everyone, but those choose to share their info can Opt-In.
They probably sent your info out one second after opening your account. Opting out now is too late. That’s probably why they are ok with an opt-out policy.