The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is largely responsible for making your financial life an open book. Passed by Congress in 1999, it allows banks, insurance companies, and brokerage houses to sell one another’s products and services. The business affiliations that the law enabled also allow those institutions to share sensitive consumer financial information. As a result, data previously held by a single company are readily available to its affiliates as well as to third parties who enter joint marketing agreements.

Consumer-privacy protections are minimal. A company must give customers a written explanation of its privacy policies. And the company, in some instances, must allow customers to elect not to have their information shared with unaffiliated third parties.

Shared information may include bank-account balances, loan-payment history, and credit-card charges, which could itemize your liquor and pharmacy bills. Such data may enable a financial institution to create a detailed customer profile, which has you paying a higher rate of interest for a loan--or not getting one at all--because the bank decided you used too many drugs or drank heavily.

WHAT YOU CAN DO Carefully read your financial-privacy statements from insurers, stockbrokers, and banks, and decide whether you want to exercise your rights under federal law to limit the sharing of your information. Keep your accounts separate. Having your mortgage, insurance, credit-card, and bank accounts with one institution may be convenient. But if you’re uncomfortable knowing that your insurer knows what’s on your credit card, spread your business around. The federal law, while weak itself, invited states to enact stronger consumer-privacy protections. North Dakota voters have already approved a strong financial-privacy law. And California is considering a bill that would require consumers to give permission before financial institutions could share information with some nonaffiliated third parties. Consumers would also be allowed to opt out of information-sharing among affiliates. If 33.9 million Californians receive strong new protections, other states will likely follow.

If the California bill fails, however, consumer groups plan to bring the issue directly to the voters on the 2004 ballot. The initiative, which Consumers Union supports, would require financial institutions to obtain consumers’ express consent before selling or sharing their information. (For details, see www.californiaprivacy.org.)

Consumers Union does not oppose all information sharing. Like many other nonprofits, we share our subscription information selectively, and only names and addresses. (And you can always opt out; see our privacy policy.) Still, we believe that consumers should have a choice before their financial data migrate to companies with whom they never intended to do business. For us, the debate boils down to one simple question: To whom does your financial information belong? Consumers Union believes it belongs to you.