I spent the weekend researching data removal methods and decided to start with my credit report. I’m not even going to get into all of the alarming privacy invasions that popped up during this process. But when I got to the experian report, I was met with T&C box that says I have to hand over my phone carrier info and it wouldn’t let me proceed without doing so. The bureaus are legally required to give you one free report a year. It’s bad enough that these companies are even given rights to my data and now they’re using it to request further information.
I’m just so angry, frustrated, and violated.
They won’t automatically use your phone bill to bolster your credit but they will use it as a form of authentication. That’s the infuriating part to me. Miss a payment? Your credit score can drop. Make every payment on time? Nothing.
It’s not authentication. They are specifically requesting access to cellular information that my service provider can’t sell to them unless I give them authorization. Authorization to obtain my most intimate data (communication usage) in order to complete their data profile on me is not the same thing as authentication.