Academic researchers have shown that anonymized data can be correlated with other data to identify people. Very true. Just in the last year or so, the credi

Academic researchers have shown that anonymized data can be correlated with other data to identify people. Very true. Just in the last year or so, the credit reporting agencies figured out how to match anonymized subprime mortgage borrower information with their own database of individual credit scores. http://www.equifax.com/cs7/Satellite?c=EFX_News_C&childpagename=US/EFX_News_C/PressReleasePage&cid=1187889849347&p=1182374863790&packedargs=locale%3Den_us&pagename=EFX/Wrapper http://www.equifax.com/cs7/Satellite?c=EFX_News_C&childp... Then they sell the joined database to hedge funds and banks (still anonymized). They that before a borrower defaults on his mortgage, he'll first max out all his credit cards. Also, late credit card payments appear within 30 days. Late mortgage payments tend to take 60 days of delinquency before blipping on any radars. Fortunately it's hard to argue today that this practice is hurting anyone. In fact, some day this could help good borrowers stand out better and receive a lower interest rate.