Personal Information

[Rockslinger]

How long is a company allowed to keep your personal info? The following two incidents really freaked me out.

1) I went to open a new bank account. The bank lady punched my name into her computer and she says: "Oh, you had an account with us 15 years ago." 15 YEARS AGO AND ALL MY PERSONAL INFO WAS STILL IN THEIR DATABASE.

2) I called Bell to set up a pre-authorized debit. Lady Bell said: "No problem, we still have your bank info from 10 years ago when you had a PAD with us." 10 YEARS AGO!

 

[Samurai Joey]

That's a good question. I am not certain what the law states in terms of keeping personal information, but I would suspect it would depend on the companies involved.

With respect to phone companies such as Bell, since customers typically tend to sign on to multi-year contracts, it would not surprise me that firms will do their best to keep as much info in their database, in case customers may suddenly decide to purchase new services. Ditto for banks.

Just my 2 cents worth. Take it for what it's worth