Visa Prohibits Web Merchants From Passing Along Cardholder Info
Visa has announced it is prohibiting web merchants from providing cardholder information to other companies without the consumer's knowledge or active consent. To address the data pass practice, Visa is requiring that "merchants will now have to prompt consumers to re-enter their card information to accept a subsequent offer from a third-party merchant. This provides a clear signal to cardholders that a second purchase is being initiated and protects them from questionable marketing practices."
According to Visa, "the misleading practice, called "data pass," usually involves a consumer shopping at a familiar retailer. At checkout, the consumer receives an offer for a discount or reward and does not realize it is from a different merchant and comes with unexpected monthly membership fees or recurring charges. Such deceptive marketing can result in high levels of consumer disputes and degrades the efficiency, reliability and security of the payment system. According to a 2009 U.S. Senate Commerce Committee staff report, 35 million consumers have paid $1.4 billion for "data pass" marketing offers."
"Visa's priority is protecting our cardholders and the integrity of the electronic payments system. Consumers who shop online using their Visa cards should be confident that they will only be charged for the products and services they legitimately intend to purchase -- not those that are foisted on them through deceptive data pass schemes," said Martin Elliott, senior business leader, U.S. Payment System Risk, Visa Inc.
"I applaud Visa's decision to prohibit merchants from using 'data pass' marketing on its network," said Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. "The Senate Commerce Committee's investigation showed that this aggressive marketing practice enabled unscrupulous e-commerce companies to scam millions of American consumers out of more than a billion dollars. Our Committee's investigation revealed how appalling this practice is and makes clear it should not be allowed -- I'm glad to see Visa has reached the same conclusion."
The announcement follows Visa's program launched in December with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Better Business Bureau to educate consumers on deceptive marketing practices. Visa continues to aggressively enforce risk programs to identify and address merchants who use bogus marketing tactics to dupe consumers.
"Protecting cardholders is among Visa's highest priorities, and we want to ensure every business in the payments system has the same commitment to ensuring consumer confidence," said Elliott.
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