What Chase Won't Tell You About Selling Your Data

“What Chase And Other Banks Won’t Tell You About Selling Your Data”

Every time someone uses their credit or debit card, they may not know that they are also being watched. A new study has found that many banks are breaking laws regarding your personal information by sharing your personal data. This data is used for marketing purposes. Although most companies can collect data freely without restriction, financial institutions and some medical facilities have restrictions.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was created in 1999 to limit what data financial institutions collect. Ten years after that, banks now need to explain in a standardized privacy policy how they use a clients personal data. A study was conducted to see how many banks followed the law. In this study done by Lorri Faith Cranor and her students, 3,422 banks were analyzed.

There was evidence that many of these banks share our information freely. The information was/can be used to market to you directly or through affiliates. There were even some banks that allowed non-affiliated companies to market to you. There is an “opt-out” option if you do not wish to partake in this marketing. However, going through the process of finding how to do so is difficult.

The opt out option is required by law. However, some banks did not offer an opt out option. 19 banks were found to be sharing information about a customers credit worthiness without any kind of opt out option. There were even four banks that shared information with non-affiliates and did not offer the opt out option.