January 11, 2010
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News: Affinion Ends Questionable Practices
As the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee continues to investigate the questionable activities of three leading marketing companies, one of the three vows to back off. Affinion Group stepped up to the plate to voluntarily halt some of the controversial activities which has sent many credit card consumers screaming foul play. A company representative told the Commerce Committee on Friday that it was changing its policy of acquiring customer credit card information from its retail marketing partners. Going forward, Affinion vows to only acquire information directly from the consumer and will require them to personally enter all credit card information at the time that they choose to sign up for the company's membership program.
Affinion along with its competitors Vertrue and Webloyalty have been criticized by a large number of consumers who say they were tricked into signing up for the membership programs and did not authorize the companies to charge their credit card accounts. The fee typically runs around $20 a month. Many consumers have reported that when they have contacted the companies and attempted to have them stop the recurring monthly fee, they have received little cooperation. In some circumstances, consumers have found it necessary to close debit and credit card accounts just to stop the companies from any further abuse. The three companies received the cardholder's information from e-tailers that received a small fee for each account opened. One of the merchants, United Online has allegedly earned over $70 million from the practice.
Affinion did not admit to any wrongdoing, and said its decision to stop conducting business by way of "datapass" has nothing to do with accusations of wrong doing on their part. However, credit card consumers will be happy to learn that three of Affinion's main e-tailers, Priceline, VistaPrint, and 1-800-Flowers ended relations with them. It is likely that the recent wave of negative media coverage of the company's practices also influenced the company's decision to halt datapass activities.