Banks Find Way To Sell Consumers' Shopping Data

nonprofiteer writes "Banks plan to compete with Groupon and LivingSocial by targeting coupons and deals at credit card holders based on their shopping habits. They found a way to do it without violating financial privacy laws: 'They're "selling" shopping habits the same way Facebook "sells" personal data about its users: in-network. It's a clever privacy work-around. Just as Facebook allows advertisers to specifically target certain kinds of users based on their profile information (without actually providing that profile information to the advertisers), banks plan to allow advertisers to send deals and coupons to their customers based on what they've bought before. That way, no user data actually leaves the network — instead, deals just enter the network. Each time a customer cashes in on one of those deals, the bank gets a commission.'"

Re:A Technicality:

[Radres]

But the bank didn't sell you the list of names. The only way to get a list of names is if someone from the community you are targeting actually clicks-through on your ad and places an order. I'm sure there are other existing ad networks that would allow you to do the same.

Re:A Technicality:

[Ruke]

You don't get a list of names. You send the bank a deal aimed at customers who bought alcohol, and restrict it to a Mormon neighborhood, and the bank sends out your offer. You don't get to know who was sent these deals; the best you could do is know who took advantage of them.

Re:A Technicality:

[Ruke]

Citation: [chicagotribune.com] (emphasis mine)

Here's how it works: Say you use your Citi-issued debit card to buy a pair of shoes at Nordstrom, and then Citi sells that information to a series of retailers. As a result, you receive a coupon from Macy's for a 20% discount on shoes at its store. The coupon is delivered by Citi, however, not from Macy's.

One company doing this...

[Anonymous Coward]

See Cardlytics at:

http://cardlytics.com/

Re:A Technicality:

[n8_f]

You just need to know who to talk to. I'm sure that for their biggest and best customers, the bank will be happy to provide names.

No, they won't. That would be breaking the law and the whole point of this approach is to avoid breaking the law.