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the walls have ears
Yesterday I got a statement from my credit-card company. It was a transaction summary for 2005; I've never seen this sort of thing before. The front page informed me that last year I spent $X on food, $Y on entertainment, $Z on professional services, and so on for about 15 broad categories. That's the sort of thing that could be useful if you don't think about it -- but I'm the kind of person who thinks about it.
I'm not sure which possibility is more disturbing: that they are making inferences based on who the payee is (Giant Eagle sounds like groceries, etc), or that the merchants are providing the credit-card companies with categories for the transactions.
My record-keeping is not thorough enough for me to figure out which is more likely on my own. Perhaps I will ask them.
When I use a credit card I fully expect that the particulars of the transaction -- date, amount, and merchant -- are not private and might be mined. If it's really important to me, I pay cash. But I do not expect a description, even a high-level one, of the goods or services purchased to be part of that record.
I'm not sure which possibility is more disturbing: that they are making inferences based on who the payee is (Giant Eagle sounds like groceries, etc), or that the merchants are providing the credit-card companies with categories for the transactions.
My record-keeping is not thorough enough for me to figure out which is more likely on my own. Perhaps I will ask them.
When I use a credit card I fully expect that the particulars of the transaction -- date, amount, and merchant -- are not private and might be mined. If it's really important to me, I pay cash. But I do not expect a description, even a high-level one, of the goods or services purchased to be part of that record.
category based on type of merchant, I think
I do know that some of the credit processing companies (Amex, Visa, etc.) charge different rates based on the type of business. Presumably, that data is available to the bank, as well. I'm guessing that they're using that data.
Re: category based on type of merchant, I think
Interesting. I didn't know that. I know that the rate can depend on the amount of the transaction (both the transaction fee and the percentage can vary), but I didn't know it also depended on the type of business/purchase.
Re: category based on type of merchant, I think
Different businesses have different chargeback profiles, though, so it makes sense that they are charged different rates. (When's the last time you disputed a credit-charge card at the grocery store over quality of service?)