I don't disagree that the companies are selling your contact information and most likely some fuzzy information ranges (age, gender, martial status, rent/own, income) that's all that's really needed to snail mail "pre approvals" hint you're not really approved for anything until you sign to allow them to actually pull your credit. Preapproved just means you meet the minimum threshold of potentially making them more money than the cost of a 50 cent envelope/paper/bulk mailing rate.
Agree that most of the data needed for a generic prescreening is available from lots of data brokerage (doesn’t necessarily need a credit bureau), but that DoanLaw.com article I read to verify my memory states that credit bureaus may legally sell some data points that can only accurately be sourced from a credit bureau.
Would you mind sharing the article? I'd like to read more about which specific data points. Thanks!
Outside of state laws and HIPAA, what national laws in the United States limit information sharing from a private party?
Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS
by kevin_thibedeau on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @12:04AM
(#34499540)
Video rental records is it. Everything else is up for sale.
I believe there are a number of siloed categories:
- HIPPA is for health care providers and their vendors
- Traditional wired telecom has long been protected. And fraud over telecom has a special wire fraud statute.
- Mail thru the USPS
- COPPA for PII of under 13 data
- Federal election law prevents election records used for commercial purposes
- basically all of the government classified data system
Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS
by alistairSH on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @12:08PM
(#34506530)
- FERPA for data held by colleges/unis.
Your second paragraph is false, AFAIK. In the USA, credit bureaus are legally allowed to sell lots of your info to debt collectors and financial service companies. (According to DoanLaw.com) this is why you get “prescreening” offers for credit cards, mortgage refis, etc.