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> - Why? Because they’re probably paying Marriot for the privilege of being listed as a provider for monitoring services. Once the free tier runs out they’ll t
by koolba 8y ago
> - Why?
Because they’re probably paying Marriot for the privilege of being listed as a provider for monitoring services. Once the free tier runs out they’ll try to milk the consumers for an ongoing protection charge.
> - Why is that not a service provided by a bank, as a part of having a credit card?
Separation of concerns. A bank or card issuer cares more about covering their own liability for fraud on a particular card. They don’t care if a new one gets issued in your name somewhere else or if a line of credit gets opened.
> - Why do individuals have to pay some random third parties to protect themselves from some fraudster defrauding some bank via data obtained from some company (even if, in publicized breach cases, this gets covered by breached company)?
That’s not strictly true. Freezing your credit across all the major credit agencies is free. They likely don’t want you to know or do that as it also limits junk mail for credit cards.
> - (Somewhat related) how is it that your "credit score" isn't just a number on your bank dashboard, but you have to pay third parties to discover it?
It can't be that all of this is just a legalized racket, can it? Because if feels like it is.
It is a racket with a private sector origin that effectively got standardized over the years. There’s a number of private organizations that provide “credit scores” with FICO being the most prominent.
Starting a few years ago most financial providers provide free access to your current score or some “fako” equivalent.
- fyfy18 8y agoIn the UK much the same racket is going on. A couple of years ago I was the target of identity theft, which involved somebody walking into a phone store, and giving for 'security purposes' my full name, address and date of birth, and walking out with a new iPhone on contract. I am a director of a limited company, so all of this information is freely available online. I eventually got it sorted (the suggested route of contacting Action Fraud did nothing; I had to make numerous proactive calls to the network's fraud team), but in order to prevent it from happening again they suggested I mark myself as high risk with the credit agencies (CIFAS protective registration), which involves paying a £10/year fee to set a boolean on my file. I'm tempted not to renew it, and if it happens again send a strongly worded letter telling them to cease all communications as there has been an error on their part (maybe GDPR gives more powers in this case?). I'm not a heavy credit user, so the impact on my credit score isn't a concern. For anyone concerned, the best way I found to monitor this is through free credit score monitoring services such as ClearScore. Through their website I can see any searches on my credit score (unfortunately they don't notify you). If a search appears for a company you don't recognise, it is most likely an indication of something similar going on.
- jackweirdy 8y agoI use ClearScore too (which covers Equifax), as well as the MoneySavingExpert Credit Club which covers Experian, and is also free: https://moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub https://moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub
- rutthenut 8y agoI don't believe that these 'free' credit score services are free, you just don't pay them a monthly fee. Instead, they make money from having your financial details, presumably to sell you other services. Same as farcebook et al, not really free at all.
- Spare_account 8y agoI use Noddle (operated by CallCredit) and I don't recall ever having been upsold anything. Edit: After logging back in to have a look, it turns out that the website has a bunch of cross-selling adverts mixed in and around the 'free' credit-reporting service: https://imgur.com/bBl8y2T https://imgur.com/bBl8y2T Going through the process of drawing red circles around the adverts made me realise 80% of the page is in fact advertising but for some reason I just never noticed them. I like to think I have a built in uBlock in my brain although I'm probably subconsciously absorbing their marketing message without realising it.
- kalleboo 8y ago> unfortunately they don't notify you That sucks. In Sweden it's the law that credit reporting agencies have to send you a copy containing the same information every time someone does a pull on your credit. Seems like a common-sense regulation.
- barrow-rider 8y agoYou have to pay 10 quid a year to put a boolean (presumably 1 if high risk/freeze, 0 if not) on your account? That seems... exploitative.