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Mastercard Should Stop Selling Our Data

eff.org

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Re: Mastercard Should Stop Selling Our Data

#142
post #21

There's an opt-out here: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/vision/corp-responsibility/c...

I ended up creating a “my data” account. I am curious what MC has been collecting across my 2 MC branded cards (one of them is an Apple Card which advertises protecting user privacy).

Once I get back that report will be requesting deletion.

Re: Mastercard Should Stop Selling Our Data

#143
post #21

There's an opt-out here: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/vision/corp-responsibility/c...

That's bullshit - it should be through the issuer. I have a half dozen different mastercards, plus variants for online wallets, all with distinct card numbers. IIRC, my Apple card has at least 4-5 numbers associated with it. (iPhone, Apple Pay on the web, Watch, physical card and i think my macbook)

Re: Mastercard Should Stop Selling Our Data

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are using Mastercard's payment network whenever you pay for something. They see and record all your transactions. Mastercard is the entity informing your bank to pay the merchant's bank.

Yes, but how is Mastercard encouraging me to spend more? In my day to day, it matters little which payment network I use since that’s abstracted away by the bank’s interface. What opportunity does Mastercard have to target me?

Offering lower interests rates as a promo, higher limits, low interest loans, bonus points from certain brands/categories, offering new types of cards, etc etc

Re: Mastercard Should Stop Selling Our Data

#145
Coincidentally, just earlier today I was looking for one-time-use prepaid cards. I thought I'd buy a few $100 worth cards and use them for pseudo-anonymous transactions. However, all I could find were prepaid "debit cards" (which could be easily tied back to be) our store specific "gift" cards.

Curious to see if anyone has a good solution for that? (In the US.)

Re: Mastercard Should Stop Selling Our Data

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but how is Mastercard encouraging me to spend more? In my day to day, it matters little which payment network I use since that’s abstracted away by the bank’s interface. What opportunity does Mastercard have to target me?

Offering lower interests rates as a promo, higher limits, low interest loans, bonus points from certain brands/categories, offering new types of cards, etc etc

Read OP’s comment again. Mastercard is not a card issuer, they can offer none of the things you mentioned.

The answer to OP’s question, of course, is that Mastercard doesn’t make use of the information it has directly. It sells the information to interested parties like Google and other advertisers. This is the behavior EFF is objecting to.

Re: Mastercard Should Stop Selling Our Data

#147
post #142
post #21

There's an opt-out here: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/vision/corp-responsibility/c...

I ended up creating a “my data” account. I am curious what MC has been collecting across my 2 MC branded cards (one of them is an Apple Card which advertises protecting user privacy). Once I get back that report will be requesting deletion.

Since you didn't post the link, I've just done the same here (US link): https://www.mastercard.us/public/my-data/dgr-public/personal...

Re: Mastercard Should Stop Selling Our Data

#148
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always wondered about this. You drive off with a EUR30k car. What do they do if you don't come back? Drain your bank account of 500 Euros? What then? In the US, the rental agreements let them keep charging you the daily rental fee until the amount collected exceeds the value of the car.

Well, what do they do if you drive off with the car and they have your credit card? Your issuer is only liable for the few hundreds of dollars that the rental car company has authorized; beyond that, it's still their (or their insurance's) loss. The only practical difference is that you're not out that money on your checking account for a few days, which can indeed be inconvenient – but arguably that's not really the…

Couldn't the rental car company keep charging the card and the issuer remains liable for further amounts?

Re: Mastercard Should Stop Selling Our Data

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, this is "level 3 data". Merchants or payments services often get lower interchange rates for providing this extra data

I always wondered about this. It feels like the information gets compressed or summarized a bit. I know this because when I previously had fraud charges I had to dispute the credit card company could report with some amount of accuracy the items that made up the transaction as well as in other transactions that they took the time to vet for fraud as well since they had me on the phone. It wasn’t brand or sku number g…

For most merchants/terminals, only amex cards tend to send level 3 data.

Re: Mastercard Should Stop Selling Our Data

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are using Mastercard's payment network whenever you pay for something. They see and record all your transactions. Mastercard is the entity informing your bank to pay the merchant's bank.

Yes, but how is Mastercard encouraging me to spend more? In my day to day, it matters little which payment network I use since that’s abstracted away by the bank’s interface. What opportunity does Mastercard have to target me?

They sell your transaction data to Google. When merchants provide Level 3 information (line items), Google can now know exactly what you're actually spending your money on.

Then, Google can show you super-relevant ads, that might encourage you to spend even more.

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