Sensitive financial information available to numerous sources

Steve Vaught is senior vice president with Springfield Trust Company.

An individual's financial life is an open book to any person or company with a personal computer, a modem and the right access codes. That's because many local and national computer databases have records of your name, address and some part of your personal finances.

A person usually won't even know when a business or individual decides to check up on them.

Today, part of everybody's financial situation becomes a record in a database when they apply for credit, order by mail, pay taxes, buy a car, etc. Usually, transaction records are not a problem, but databases do give strangers access to private information.

That can lead to annoying phone calls from salespeople and ads that clog the mailbox. Occasionally, the problem isn't just annoyance, it is fraud.

Unavoidable disclosure

A person can't avoid some loss of privacy. If a person wants a mortgage or other credit, he or she has to disclose details about income and assets. No disclosure, no loan.

People also can't control the distribution of some information. For example, motor vehicle registrations, real estate transactions and property tax payments are public records. And people have to authorize continuing scrutiny of their credit history if they want the convenience of a charge card.

People can't stop the recording of information on finances, but they certainly can do more to protect their privacy.

The first rule of information control is: Make data available only when there is a real need for someone else to know it. The Social Security number is the key to most automated information sharing and record matching.

Make sure to give out the number only when necessary. Unless paying income taxes, people shouldn't put their Social Security numbers on their checks and they shouldn't keep the number in their wallet or purse.

A lost or stolen wallet with a Social Security number can make it easy for someone else to obtain new credit in another person's name.

Many banks, investment funds and other organizations use Social Security numbers for telephone access to account information. Request another number.

Rely more on cash

When paying with checks or credit cards, people are choosing to give out information about where they bank and their address (if it's on the checks).

A check or credit card also means a detailed record of what, when and where they bought goods.

Customer names and addresses become store mailings and if the customer list is sold other solicitations.

People can easily eliminate these purchase records by using more cash when they buy and having receipts made out to cash.

Call, order carefully

Using an 800 number is a convenient cost saver, but not if the company on the other end isn't reputable. A call can be the electronic source of a person's name and address for undesirable solicitation lists or worse if the caller gives out a credit card number to someone who misuses it.

Make sure the companies are legitimate businesses. This will eliminate possible problems and a source of future unwanted phone calls.

Major mail-order companies are careful about whom they allow to use their lists of customers. But a person can ask companies not to release the information to others.

A person also can have his or her name eliminated from mass mailing lists by writing to the Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735.

Protecting financial privacy is mostly a matter of taking care. Be careful to avoid revealing more than needed, especially the Social Security number. And be careful about releasing personal information to organizations and persons directly or indirectly.