Financial Privacy 101
Privacy is a prerequisite of security.
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Good morning, this is Thinking Capital. A weekly mission for you to optimize your financial life. Today’s mission: financial privacy.
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Privacy is a prerequisite of security. As tempting as it is for me to jump straight into why you should enable two factor authentication, I realize it’s important to lay groundwork.
The more private your data is —> the less it is shared
The less it is shared —> the fewer chances it has to be compromised
Data that is less likely to be compromised is more secure
While security is our main goal, there’s a positive side effect of fewer marketing messages and a positive environmental externality of less junk mail. So how can we get started?
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to improve your financial privacy:
Consider freezing your credit
Privacy, limit data sharing
Marketing, unsubscribe from offers
Linked apps and websites
Devices
Let’s approach and why and how of each:
Freezing your credit
In 2017 Equifax compromised the personal details (name, address, social, etc) of 147M Americans (pretty much half of all adults) and that information is still floating around the internet. There’s a good chance that our info was included and a potential attacker can very well be sitting on that data or filling in missing pieces before applying for some financial service. If you’re not currently applying for any loans, credit cards or other new accounts, you may want to consider freezing your credit score reporting on the credit reporting bureaus. Freezing prevents new financial services checking your credit scores, thus preventing bad actors from impersonating you. I think of it as a form of “two-factor” on your credit score.
While this isn’t for everyone, it’s a great safety measure, especially for older parents or grandparents who are no longer opening new accounts and may be more vulnerable. To get started, you’ll have to contact all three major credit reporting bureaus (shout out to Nerdwallet for their guides linked below)
Equifax: Call 800-349-9960 or go online. Check out our step-by-step Equifax credit freeze guide.
Experian: Call 888‑397‑3742 or go online. Here’s a detailed walk-through on getting an Experian credit freeze.
TransUnion: Call 888-909-8872 or go online. Read our TransUnion credit freeze guide.
You can also freeze your credit report at two lesser-known credit bureaus that may have information about you:
If you’re doing this in real time, congrats! The above is no easy task, so great job getting this done for you and your loved ones. The rest of this guide isn’t as tedious, but remember, it’s all worth it. *Remember, if you want to sign up for a new financial product, you’ll first have to unfreeze your credit score.
Privacy, limit data sharing
Simply login to each account, and navigate to the Privacy section. For example, on Chase.com, this will be in the sandwich menu (three lines) and scroll down to “Security & privacy,” as shown below.
From there, you’ll have direct access to items 2-5 listed above. For Privacy on Chase, we’re simply replying “Yes” to limit data sharing.
I doubt Chase is your only financial provider, so be sure to login to each bank, credit card, lender, etc and follow the same procedure for each. Most credit cards will allow you to do this on the phone with an automated system. Simply call the number on the back of your card and say “privacy” to get started. Some providers, like American Express, will allow you to chat/text your preferences and an Associate will change them on your behalf.
Marketing, unsubscribe from offers
On Chase, this is simply the next link down the left-hand menu, as shown above. For other institutions, you may have to search the site or call and say “marketing preferences” to prompt an automated opt-out.
You may not mind the extra emails or mailings, but security aside, they may also tempt you into financial products that you don’t need.
Linked apps and websites
This is important. It’s become so easy to connect to personal finance apps and other services by simply logging in with your banking details. While it’s convenient to login, it’s easy to forget to logout. This section will detail all the services that you’re sharing data with and offer a one-click revoke.
I found this section of Chase to be unreliable, but if you logout and then log back in, it will typically reset and the revoke will process correctly. While logging into accounts with credentials through services like Plaid and Yodlee may be more secure than entering your account details directly, it’s important to (a) only share what is necessary and (b) remember to revoke access once you’re done with the app.
Devices
Lastly, and on a similar note - how many old devices have you logged in from that are now on the approved devices list? Most banks will list this out for you online and allow you to remove the old iPhone or PC that you’re no longer using. This is also a great place to remove all connections if you suspect your password was compromised.
Beyond financial institutions, it’s important to remove old devices from your Apple account, password manager, and storage accounts like iCloud, Dropbox, etc.
A slight diversion…
Did you know you can sign up for digital scans of your mail?
Through the USPS Informed Delivery program you’ll receive an email anytime there’s a letter on its way to you.
I love this for a few reasons:
Ensure important mail shows up, the scans are taken at the sorting facility, so you’ll have a heads up before they arrive.
Keep track of mail while traveling, if you’re worried about missing something you’ll at least know when to ask a friend or neighbor to gather your mail while you’re traveling.
Unsubscribe from junk mail, instead of writing your address or taking a photo, you’ll already have a photo that you can forward for junk mail removal.
Sign up via USPS here.