Yes. The practice of generating and selling lists for use in "pre-approved" credit and insurance offers is allowed by law. Trans Union, Experian and Equifax all engage in selling lists of consumers who meet certain criteria in order to receive a "firm" offer of credit or insurance. This is the source of the many pre-approved credit offers most consumers receive in the mail. "Pre-approved" and so-called "firm" offers of credit, however, can be somewhat misleading. A creditor may legally look at your report before making the offer. If you respond, the creditor may again access your report before you are actually granted credit. They can deny your credit application at that time. This is explained in the fine print on the pre-approved offer.

The law does not allow CRAs to compile and sell information from credit reports for the purpose of direct marketing. Although CRAs have engaged in this practice in the past, the Federal Trade Commission, on March 1, 2000, ruled that Trans Union violated the FCRA by the sale of personal credit information for target marketing purposes. To read the FTC�s full opinion, see www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/03/transunion.htm. Trans Union has appealed the FTC�s decision and the matter is now under review in federal court. Equifax states it does not sell lists used for direct or target marketing. Experian, on the other hand, sells lists of consumers to marketers derived from consumer surveys, demographics sources, and public records. Experian states that it does not sell information obtained directly from credit reports for marketing purposes. See www.experian.com/directmktg/lists.html.

You can remove your name from any list compiled by a CRA, whether the list is for pre-approved credit offers or direct marketing. To "opt-out," that is, to remove your name from mailing lists compiled by credit bureaus, call the toll-free number all CRAs are required by law to maintain for this purpose: (888) 5OPTOUT or (888) 567-8688. This phone number can be used to remove your name from the list of all three CRAs. You may also write to the CRA, and the CRA may also provide an online means for opting-out.

The 1997 amendments to the FCRA allow a subsidiary of a bank holding company to share its customers� credit reports and information from credit, employment, or insurance applications with other affiliates of that company. The 1997 amendments to the FCRA give you a right to opt-out of the sharing of affiliate information. Look for opt-out instructions in the fine print of your credit card bills and bank statements. You will be provided with an address to contact to alert financial services companies of your opt-out preferences. The FCRA amendments require that if an adverse action is taken based on affiliate-shared information, you are to be notified. The consumer organization U.S. PIRG (www.pirg.org) states that affiliate sharing is among the most controversial changes to the FCRA. It could result in the establishment of bank subsidiaries that act like credit bureaus but are exempt from the act.

A loophole in the FCRA enables the credit bureaus to sell the "directory information" from credit reports, called "credit headers." This information includes name, address, previous addresses, telephone number, date of birth, and Social Security number. The FCRA�s opt-out provision that applies to pre-approved offers of credit does not apply to credit headers. You are not able to opt-out of the sale of your credit header information by the CRAs. This information is sold to many information brokers who in turn sell it for a variety of investigative purposes. The sale of credit headers is highly controversial. Several bills have been introduced in Congress to prohibit the sale of headers, or at the very least to restrict the sale of Social Security numbers, which are contained in credit headers.

These questions and answers are provided for IowaMotors.com users' general information. Although we make every effort to insure accuracy in the information provided, we cannot make any guarantees as to this accuracy. We urge you to consult your lawyer, accountant or tax advisor for specific legal or tax advice.