I love to read questions posed on ActiveRain and this evening after reading a comment about when an agent should submit a copy of the earnest money, it brought to mind how we as agents are entrusted with our clients personal and sensitive information.
We must remember that we have - sometimes without thinking about it - information that if in the wrong hands - could comprimise our clients' financial security.
Case in point: When you fax your buyers' offer to another agent do you also fax a copy of their earnest money check as well? Now understand that I assume that all of us agents practice with the utmost in professionalism and care. But do you know who actually has access to that fax before it's intended recipient? Are there faxes left on the fax machine overnight when the cleaning crew is there? Don't get me wrong, I don't want to wrongfully accuse cleaning crews of snooping around our fax machines looking for an opportunity at every turn but that just illustrates that these documents are not as secure as they could be. And as a result your clients' sensitive information may be sitting in (semi) plain view of any opportunist(s).
Isn's a fax copy of a check for several thousand dollars signed by your client as easy to duplicate as one that may be found in the trash? Maybe - maybe not - but isn't that also why we are so careful to shred our trash before it goes into the dumpster?
One solution I found to help protect my clients information especially when it comes to the earnest money is to simply make a copy of the check as you would normally do and before you include that copy with your offer, white out the account number (or at least half of it) on the copy. This will still show the intent by your buyer without comprimising their security.
Hope this helps.
Joe
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