CA Financial Privacy Law Proposed

A ballot measure that would require financial institutions to obtain explicit consent before sharing a consumer's personal information with affiliates or third parties has been proposed in California by a coalition that includes an online mortgage lender.If passed, the initiative would give Californians the strongest financial privacy protection in the nation, according to Californians for Privacy Now, a coalition that includes E-Loan Inc., Dublin, Calif., as well as AARP, Consumers Union, and several other groups. Under the proposal, financial institutions could sell or share personal information without consent only to complete a transaction initiated by the consumer. "The market has failed consumers in the privacy arena, and the only way to solve the problem is to give consumers the right to control the selling and sharing of their personal information," said Chris Larsen, chairman and chief executive officer of E-Loan. ".... By allaying consumer fears about privacy, confidence and trust will emerge -- encouraging consumers to take advantage of new services and technologies that they're too afraid to use now." Senior citizens with significant home equity and income only from Social Security can be targeted for predatory home loans under the existing system, the coalition said. The group can be found online at http://www.californiaprivacy.org.