by Trace Mayer Recently by Trace Mayer: Cryptographic Protocols – How To Protect Your Wireless Network
If you want to protect your privacy then you must use effective financial privacy strategies. Financial institutions are supposed to keep their customers’ information private. It’s against the law for them to give out a customer’s personal information without his or her permission. In 1999, the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA) was established to provide limited privacy protections against the distribution and sale of your financial information. Despite this Act some banks and credit card companies still can’t be trusted and you have to come up with your own financial privacy strategies. Take Charge Of Your Financial Privacy Strategies So, if you can’t even trust banks, who can you trust? The safest thing to do is to take the protection of your financial privacy into your own hands. For instance, if you want to purchase real estate then do so through an LLC. The good thing about being involved with an LLC is that creditors can’t pursue your personal assets to pay off business debts unless they are able to pierce the corporate veil. This can be very helpful if you ever owe money on business credit cards. Another way to protect your financial privacy is to pay cash whenever you can. If the thought of banks or creditors tracing your every purchase makes you uncomfortable then just switch to cash. Sure, it’s easier to carry around debit or credit cards and swipe them in card machines but paying with cash will provide you with more privacy. Financial Privacy Through Using BitCoin And then there is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a decentralized electronic payment system using peer-to-peer networking and cryptographic protocols. Bitcoins are purely digital units of currency. They can be transferred between two parties for the purchasing and selling of products. The system began in 2009 when creator Satoshi Nakamoto released the original client as open source software. Why is this digital payment system good for privacy? Well, unlike Paypal, you don’t have to provide a whole lot of private information. While the transactions do show payment amounts and addresses in the public blockchain the identities behind those transactions are not exposed. Currency exchanges also exist between Bitcoin participants. They can exchange real currencies such as the US dollar and virtual currencies such as the Linden Dollar. The price of 1 BTC goes up and down all the time and is now approximately five US dollars. To get more information, you can read How To Obtain Financial Privacy Through Using BitCoin. Financial Privacy Strategy – Don’t Forget To Opt Out Don’t just assume that banks or other financial institutions will protect your privacy. Some of them will actually make your formally “opt out”. They will not give consumers privacy protection unless customers specifically state “no” and opt out. Carefully read over a bank’s privacy policy before you sign anything. Look for the option for opting out.
Credit Report Protection Only organizations to whom you give permission can look at your credit report. A few examples include your lender, potential employer (after you fill out an application), landlord or landlady and credit card companies. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act the only people who can get a copy of your credit report are those with a legitimate business need. Your employer or potential employer can only get a copy if you provide written consent. Take a look at your credit report every month to see who has been viewing it. The three major credit bureaus include Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. If you don’t recognize an organization who requested a copy of any of the reports then contact the bureau to find out who it was. You can also contact the credit bureaus to clean up your report of any errors or omissions. Conclusion As long as you keep these tips in mind you should be able to protect your financial privacy using these simple financial privacy strategies. Use financial entitites like LLCs, cash when possible, switch to alternative value transfer systems like BitCoin, opt-out of information sharing agreements from banks and watch your credit report like a hawk. Hopefully, you now have an idea of different financial privacy strategies and how they can help you to take control of and protect your financial privacy. And remember: ALWAYS go that extra mile to protect your personal information by implementing stealth tactics from sources like the Bank Privacy Report, The Mini-Guide To Financial Privacy, or A Lawyer’s Take On BitCoin And Taxes. April 18, 2012 Bill Rounds, J.D. is a California attorney. He holds a degree in Accounting from the University of Utah and a law degree from California Western School of Law. He practices civil litigation, domestic and foreign business entity formation and transactions, criminal defense and privacy law. He is a strong advocate of personal and financial freedom and civil liberties. Copyright © 2012 How to Vanish
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