Credit card issuers are monitoring your spending habits…
Like an Orwell novel with ‘Big Brother’ controlling our every move, credit card issuers are using some pretty scary tactics to weed out or clamp down on borrowers who may have the potential of defaulting on their credit cards. According to Robert Manning, author of Credit Card Nation, credit card issuers use ‘data mining’ to look at where we spend our money to determine if we might have lost our job or appear to be having money problems. The book includes a list of 10 things you should avoid charging on your credit card.
10 Things You Should Avoid Charging
- Shopping at bargain or outlet stores
- Retread tires
- Internet porn sites and strip clubs
- Marriage counseling or counseling
- Paying an existing debt with a credit card
- Lottery tickets
- Income taxes
- Alcohol
- Gambling
- Cash advances
Innocently titled the ‘merchant usage pattern’, credit card companies are reviewing their customers’ spending habits. This means that consumers who have an excellent credit history can lose that rating by how their ‘risky’ spending is perceived. A disproportionate number of bar purchases using plastic may be seen as risky; marriage counseling may be a sign of a pending divorce. Consumers should be wary that companies can manipulate credit scoring systems according to their own standards. The most bothersome factor is that the cause of a lowered rating may not be disclosed or obvious.
The decision to lower your credit limit or cancel your card is totally arbitrary. If visiting a bar is part of your typical daily routine, you have nothing to worry about. But if you begin making a daily stop at the local watering hole, your behavior may be interpreted as a way to deal with stress, a negative indicator of unbalanced or irresponsible behavior. Some purchases, like retreading your tires instead of buying new, may be perceived as an act of desparation or instability, according to the book.
* Read online or get your copy of Credit Card Nation >