Protecting our sensitive information is a constant battle. For industries that need to use your private information such as banks, mortgage companies, employers, and yes, property management companies effective November 1, 2009 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a new law going into action.
1. Companies need to have in place their privacy protection procedures for the public.
2. We can no longer give credit reports to the applicant once run. We can only give them the name of the credit reporting agency so they can get their own credit report. The reasoning is what if you have info on your report that isn’t yours - we would be releasing someone elses info inadvertently.
3. We can no longer provide an Owner a copy of the rental application either since this has sensitive private info such as social security number, and credit account numbers.
In my office we have always had the info under lock and key but will not be blacking out sensitive numbers on credit reports, and applications before filing. Files are kept locked. And, we will no longer give out credit reports upon request.
I know this seems like one more level of bureaucracy but the intent is to protect sensitive personal information.
Kathleen
Broker/Owner
PS Check out our current listing of Santa Cruz Rentals.