Join the Community

23,409
Expert opinions
42,310
Total members
272
New members (last 30 days)
166
New opinions (last 30 days)
29,114
Total comments

Experian service good for business, what about consumers?

I can only hope that a company which profits by selling data about consumers might have at least a thought for those consumers. 

Identity theft is a growing problem and these 'information' companies are a party to ID theft when  a fraudster gets credit in another person's name as a result of a credit reference provider giving the real person a good credit reference. I've spoken before about how it is essentially your data that they are selling, and the retailer or credit provider would never give credit to a fraudster posing as you, without your good credit reference from such information providers. 

Where are the ethics here? This new product enhancement cost a lot more to implement than it would to protect consumers from fraud. 

Consumers could easily be notified when any third party references that consumer's credit file, and for only cents. I also think that charging consumers excessive fees to do so is immoral. 

Experian has the opportunity to show corporate leadership here so why don't they take the lead and show some social responsibility? 

I believe that the only other realistic alternative is for governments to legislate hold those in the chain of identity theft liable for consumer's losses in cases which could otherwise not succeed without those companies providing the essential information needed to carry out ID fraud. 

What do you think? 

External

This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author.

Join the Community

23,409
Expert opinions
42,310
Total members
272
New members (last 30 days)
166
New opinions (last 30 days)
29,114
Total comments

Now Hiring