> Try for yourself next time you order something online. Makes me wonder why they even collect the data in the first place... You're right, you don't need the

> Try for yourself next time you order something online. Makes me wonder why they even collect the data in the first place... You're right, you don't need the billing address to process a payment, although it's not true to say it's not used at all. Sometimes card companies do validate it, it depends on the type of transaction and the fraud profile. Often it's fuzzily matched, so name may not matter. But you can also use it for other things: for example, fraud detection. Say your billing address is in New York, but your shipping address is to some Eastern European country. That's a big flag for fraud. So merchants collect it because they want to avoid damage to their bottom line.