If someone pays by credit card for an online order, do vendors normally disclose the customer's email address to the bank (who might then share it with the credit bureaus)? I think my credit report only shows email addresses that I've directly given to banks.
@resist1984 I wouldn't feel too secure thinking that.
Corporate databases are an incestuous web - many monetize them and sell info to each other if they can.
I 'make up' valid email addresses and it's often interesting to see how far they get before I blackhole them.
If I see an email adressed to e.g. walmart@mydomain coming from sales@fordmotor.com, I know they sold me out.
@gemlog The 1st question is whether the merchant shares the email address with the bank in the course of a purchase transaction, which would perhaps make the data reliable for the bank to share it with a credit bureau. If the data takes another path, like being sold to data miners, then the bank doesn't even matter (the credit bureau can buy it directly)
@gemlog Part of the problem is that all US credit bureaus are currently violating the FCRA law which requires them to disclose the sources of info they obtain. They comply w.r.t. account history, but they never tell consumers where they got the contact info. The penalty is $1k, but no one has been able to successfully sue the credit bureaus b/c plaintiffs still must prove damages.
@resist1984 You could just wait for Equifax to leak it? JK :-)
Seriously, I don't even know the rules for canada, never mind the usa, but I don't doubt that they are skirted and ignored.
@resist1984 I watched the phone company hand out my address, so I'm guessing the credit bureau might trust them as a 'partner'? I used to put non-existent apt numbers with my house address.
I don't know all the webs that exist between corporations, but I do know that the 'lists' don't get any more credible as they get sold on and neither do those trying to use them for marketing.