_Sounding Bored is my semi-regular column on the state of the appraisal profession. This week I get annoyed as a client gets personal._

Over the last several weeks, I have been having a polite argument with a client of mine, a large national lender whom I have worked with for more than 20 years. As part of our annual renewal in which we provide our updated insurance and license information for their files, I was asked to provide my P & L.

We have never provided this information to anyone but the IRS and a lender that I set up my revolving credit line with. Its nobody’s business.

We have had a 20+ relationship with this client and I like all the people we deal with and get modest appraisal volume from them.

I have no idea how my P & L impacts whether I can do business with them. There is limited exposure on their part. If I was a national appraisal management company doing thousands of transactions a month for them and was publicly traded, then yes, I could see the need to understand their exposure.

At first they gave me a waiver but a higher up rescinded it and attributed it to company policy. Aren’t I protected to the same level of privacy that a customer for a lender is under Gramm-Leach-Bliley?

Its a matter of principle, and I want to opt out.