Have you used your credit card at merchants specializing in secondhand clothing, retread tires, bail bond services, massages, casino gambling or betting? Your credit card issuer may be taking note -- and making decisions about your creditworthiness based on your purchasing behavior.While, it is assumed they were tracking spending habits, the subjectivity involved such as assuming if you shop at thrift stores than you are less credit worthy seems ludicrous.
Imagine if they can combine that with the data from OnStar as referenced in today's class----how will your driving patterns be used by Visa in the future?
Another example of how what matters is not so much the information collected, but how it is used. I would have no problem with Visa data mining my purchase history to prevent fraud--e.g. calling me to ask if I've suddenly taken a fancy to online poker. And I'd be okay with them letting the FBI know if some guy with no background in farming suddenly charges a truckload of fertilizer. But screwing with people's credit limits and interest rates because they see a marriage counselor or frequent their local Goodwill--that's inviting some serious regulation.
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