Financial data mining.

[moneysense]

Have you ever wondered why when you are shopping and paying for your purchases, the cashier asks for your zip code? Well, the reasons are so that they can build a profile of your spending habits, determine median income or the poverty level in your area.

This information can be sold to others, such as credit card companies, who keep an eye on where you shop. And if you shopped before at high end stores like Sears, JC Penny etc then start shopping at the Dollar Stores, the credit companies may think that something is wrong and put a cap on your spending with their card.

Some of the companies even mine data by who you are friends with on Facebook etc. Because they figure that if your friends pay their bills on time, the you are most likely to also.

[Rae74]

This is so crazy,do we not have any privacy anymore?Every day I get on the computer and find one thing or the other on government taking away our rights and privacy.

I know that we use these kind of things to find people who have broken the law,but at what cost to us that are law abiding citizens?I think that we need to watch ourselves very carefully because before we no it we won't even have privacy in our own homes.

[moneysense]

This one really amazed me:

This information can be sold to others, such as credit card companies, who keep an eye on where you shop. And if you shopped before at high end stores like Sears, JC Penny etc then start shopping at the Dollar Stores, the credit companies may think that something is wrong and put a cap on your spending with their card.

With the economy being what it is and so many people out of work, and incomes going down, the smart thing to do is to buy wisely. But when you do try to do this, the credit card company seems to think that either your income has dropped significantly or perhaps, even, that you have lost your job. So they put a cap on how much you can spend by using your credit card.

You would think that they would be more apt to go by how you pay your bill. If your bill is paid by making larger than the minumum payment, and is paid on time month after month, then where you shop should have no bearing whatsoever on what you will be allowed to spend.

I think that the heads of these companies need to use their heads when it comes to things of this nature and not just run their companies on "assumptions".