Credit Card Privacy Notices & Your Personal Financial Information

Your personal financial information is protected by federal law. The Financial Modernization Act of 1999, or the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, was enacted in part to help you understand how financial companies-including your credit card company-use your personal financial information. The portion of the Act that covers your personal financial information is the Financial Privacy Rule.

Your Personal Financial Information and Privacy Notices

Every year, your credit card company is required to send you a notice revealing how the company is sharing your information. This notice may also include information about how you can "opt-out," or limit, the ways that your personal financial information is shared. The government has issued a suggested standardized form for your credit card company to use that could make understanding this information easier.

Sharing Your Personal Financial Information

Credit card companies share personal financial information with two types of organizations: 

•  Affiliates
•  Non-Affiliates

Affiliates are companies that "belong" to the same corporation. For example, an affiliate could be a subsidiary of a parent company. Therefore, if you had Disney credit card, Disney might be able to share your personal financial information with the ABC Television Network unless Disney offered opting out in its privacy notices.

Non-affiliates are companies that don't belong to the same corporation. Your credit card company may be able to share information if, for example, your credit card company is offering a product jointly with another company.

Learn more about Massachusetts Credit Card Privacy Laws by visiting our library. 

If you think that your credit card company has provided your personal financial information in violation of privacy laws, the expert Massachusetts class action attorneys at Phillips & Garcia will fight for your consumer rights in court. Contact Phillips & Garcia today to schedule your FREE legal consultation - (877) 892-5620.