[Jillean0820]

A car dealership faxed over to my place of employment a fax that said my down payment check bounced. I work at a school so this fax machine is used publicly. Is this a privacy act violation? The check did not bounce. I had put a "stop payment" on the check so the inforamtion in the fax was not only personal, but wrong.

[smoothy]

NO, not if you gave them that fax number to use. That implied concent.
And a FYI... that check actually DID bounce and that was because YOU put a stop payment on it... and you are legally liable for any bounce fees incured as well as charges the dealer may add.

Writing out a check then putting a stop payment can also constitute an intent for commit fraud depending on factors that have not been discussed here.

[ScottGem]

What privacy act? There is a federal act (passed in 1974) which governs how agencies of the federal government use personal info. But a car dealership is not an agency of the federal government.

There may be local acts but generally they dictate how governments use info and usually don't apply to private business.

[JudyKayTee]

A car dealership faxed over to my place of employment a fax that said my down payment check bounced. I work at a school so this fax machine is used publically. Is this a privacy act violation? The check did not bounce. I had put a "stop payment" on the check so the inforamtion in the fax was not only personal, but wrong.

How did they get the number?

[Fr_Chuck]

If you gave them the number no,

And there is not a legal term "bounce" to them, it was returned unpaid. So it could be a correct term to use.

Depending on the issues, it is not always legal to stop payment, we also need to address why this was done