Your Privacy Matters: We’re Taking Action to Protect Your Information
At Points West Community Bank, we are committed to safeguarding your personal information. Recently, several customers have expressed concern about receiving unsolicited calls and offers from third-party lenders after applying for a loan. We want to clarify that we do not sell your information.
Here’s what’s happening: Once we run a credit report as part of the loan application process, the credit bureaus, by law, can sell your information through what is known as “trigger leads.” This allows other lenders to access your data and bombard you with unsolicited offers. Naturally, many customers mistakenly believe that we shared their information, which is not the case.
There Has Been No Data Breach We understand how unsettling these unsolicited offers can feel, and we want to assure you that there has been no data breach at Points West Community Bank. Your personal data remains secure with us.
We’re Fighting for Change We believe that these practices should stop, which is why we’re joining the efforts led by the American Bankers Association (ABA) to petition Congress to pass the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act. This act would prevent credit bureaus from selling your information to third-party lenders without your consent. We urge you to join us in this grassroots campaign to protect your privacy.
In the meantime, you can take action by opting out of prescreening offers through www.optoutprescreen.com. It takes just 5 business days for the opt-out process to be completed.
Let’s work together to protect your financial privacy. Congress can rein in the unsolicted calls and offers from third-party lenders by passing the Homebuyers Privacy Protection. Urge your lawmaker to co-sponsor this bill and limit when credit reporting agencies may provide third party lenders with a consumer’s credit report information.