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When you signed up for your latest credit card, did you bother to scrutinize the terms and conditions (T&Cs)?

I thought i did. Until i came across the cardmembers agreement for my UOB credit card. Tucked somewhere down the agreement were these 3 clauses concerning the use of my information:

Section 15.1 of the UOB Cardmembers Agreement
We, our employees or agents may at any time without notice or liability disclose your Information to:-
(a) any Participant or merchant which accepts the Card;
(f) any other person we consider it in our interest to make such disclosure;
(h) your employer.

These T&Cs don’t seem to be written with me, the mighty consumer, in mind. I began to wonder. Under what circumstances does the bank disclose my information to other merchants? Why would they disclose information to my employer?

And most damning of all, why would i allow another person to have access to my information when it is in the bank’s interest to do so?

I put these questions to UOB. The emails are posted below with minor revisions to protect the Customer Service Officer’s identity and my private information.

UOB clarifies their Cardmembers Agreement

Hi,

I’m a long-time subscriber to UOB credit card.

Recently i came across and was surprised by three sub-clauses of Section 15.1 of the UOB Cardmembers Agreement.

It says, “We, our employees or agents may at any time without notice or liability disclose your Information to:-
(a) any Participant or merchant which accepts the Card;
(f)any other person we consider it in our interest to make such disclosure;
(h) your employer.

I’d like to have your explanation for each of the above sub-clause a), f) & h),

1. What kind of information is disclosed?

2. For what purpose and under what circumstance does UOB disclose my personal information to them? I’m particularly disturbed by sub-clauses f) and h). Why would i want my personal information disclosed to other persons when it’s not in my interest to do so? And why would i want my information to be given to employers?

3. Can i opt out of these or any clauses? I certainly don’t remember being told that i’ve the right to opt out of these clauses.

I’d appreciate a prompt response. Thanks.

UOB took 4 days to reply. But to its credit, the reply was professional and reassuring.

Dear Sir,

We would only disclose your personal information only where necessary such as:-

a) Merchants
This is for the purpose of validating a transaction to prevent fraud. In the case of some high-risk transactions, such as Card-Not-Present type of charges like e-commerce, telephone or mail orders, the merchant may also contact the Bank to validate customer information such as mailing address or contact number before they ship/deliver their merchandise.

b) Any Other Persons, including Employer
This is mainly for credit evaluation and review purposes – such as conducting searches with the Singapore Credit Bureau, other financial institutions as well as agencies that provide credit and litigation checks. In the case of “Employer”, the main purpose is to confirm the employment status of a credit card applicant.

In view of the above, we seek your understanding on our needs to keep the relevant clauses in our Terms & Conditions. Hence, we are unable to accede to opt out request.

Should you have any questions, please contact our 24-hour Call Centre on 1800 22 22 121 or +65 622 22 121 (if you are calling from overseas). We will be happy to assist you.

Yours sincerely

Identity Theft and Spam Mails

Not willing to let go of such a good opportunity, i shot another email back.

Dear Sir,

Thanks for your detailed reply. I appreciate it.

Perhaps just a couple more clarifications.

I’m concerned about my personal information being sold to other merchants for spam mailing purposes. Can i get an assurance that UOB does not engage in such a practice at all?

My second question relates to identity theft. Is it possible for unlawful persons to access my personal information by, for example, feigning as merchants?

Thanks & rdgs

This is their reply. I was satisfied with it although i detected an indignance – as if they think i’m nuts to even consider the above.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email.

Further to your query, we would like to inform you that we are a reputable financial institution observing a stringent Code of Conduct and closely supervised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. We treat our customer’s information with utmost care and confidentiality. We will definitely not be involved in any unethical activities such as selling of customer data.

In addition, before we entertain any query from merchant, we would have to authenticate the identity of the merchant. In addition, we do not release any customer information to the merchant. Instead, we require the merchant to furnish us the information that they wanted to validate, for example, the mailing address or telephone number. We would then confirm whether the information furnished is correct or otherwise. Hence, there is no risk of identity theft.

Should you have any questions, please contact our 24-hour Call Centre on 1800 22 22 121 or +65 622 22 121 (if you are calling from overseas). We will be happy to assist you.

Yours sincerely

If i’m more of a cynic, i’d call their customer service line now and ensure that whoever picked up my call is well-versed with the bank’s policy on disclosing customer’s information. Perhaps another day.

Your personal information may be leaked or even sold

I started this chain of inquiry after coming across a BBC Watchdog report concerning identity thefts in UK banks.

In 2006, Watchdog found that some banks and building societies were leaving customers’ confidential details out in the rubbish, placing them at risk of identity theft. The Information Commissioner’s Office – the body in charge of policing breaches of data protection in the UK – found the banks guilty of breaching the Data Protection Act. These banks were made to sign an undertaking promising to dispose of customers confidential details properly.

In 2007, Watchdog again discovered “torn-up, paying-in envelopes with names and account details, as well as a whole cheque for almost £1,700″ in a rubbish bin outside a bank branch. Not only that, it seemed that some banks have been sending customers’ personal details to the wrong people.

Apparently even reputable banks, such as Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, fumble.

Next time you walk past your neighbourhood bank branch, you may want to peek inside the rubbish bin. Who knows what you may find.

Tags: Credit Cards

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 26th, 2008 at 10:30 am and is filed under Credit Card Privacy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.