FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2003

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Gail Hillebrand or Shelley Curran
415-431-6747
Rob Schneider (512) 477-4431, ext. 116

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – The U.S. House and Senate are tentatively scheduled to vote today on a revised version of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) that offers consumers new protections to ensure credit report accuracy and safeguard against identity theft, but fails to give consumers meaningful tools to protect their financial privacy.

Rob Schneider, director of Consumers Union’s FinancialPrivacyNow.org project, issued the following statement on the FCRA vote:

“This measure puts in place important new protections against identity theft like giving consumers the right to block information about fraudulent transactions on their credit reports and the ability to receive one free credit report each year. And the legislation allows states to enhance identity theft protections as new problems arise as long as they are not inconsistent with federal law. In this area, Congress sided with consumers recognizing that the ever-evolving problem of identity theft deserves the kind of quick remedy best enacted in state legislatures.”

“While consumers will have a limited right under this legislation to stop unwanted marketing by the affiliates of the financial institutions they do business with, they will not have the choice to stop the sharing of their private financial information by these companies. As a result, financial institutions will continue to be able to share such sensitive information as their customers’ Social Security numbers, account balances, and spending habits with the hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of companies they count as affiliates.”

“Without tougher financial privacy laws, consumers will remain vulnerable to identity theft, aggressive marketing and fraud. Consumers deserve a say over how this intimate information is collated and combined, shared and sold, and we believe Congress must revisit this issue.”