Why CHOICE is sounding the alarm bell over store loyalty programs

Consumer advocacy group CHOICE say Australians signing up for store loyalty programs may be giving up more than they realise, and are imploring consumers to read the fine print in the agreement.
A survey of over 1000 Australians, conducted by CHOICE, found that 90 per cent had signed up to at least one loyalty program, with many people being signed up to multiple.
However, the survey also revealed only 25 per cent had read the privacy agreement of those schemes, and that many were collecting and sharing data on a large scale.
CHOICE Consumer Data Advocate Kate Bower told 6PR Breakfast “it’s a big problem”.
“I think what most people don’t know what can happen to your data once it leaves the retailer,” she said.
“So some retailers have arrangements with data-broking companies, that then share and on-sell your data to other businesses, and that’s where we can see real consumer harms begin to happen.
“So some of those harms might be things like personalised pricing, which sounds good, it sounds like you might be getting a cheaper price, but we’ve seen discriminatory practices where people are getting charged more based on their age, or based on where they live.
“We’re also concerned about other practices like automated decision making with your data, where you might be refused access to a financial product or it might affect your credit score
“And those are the things that people don’t really realise when they sign up to a loyalty program, that their data might be then used to make decisions about them by another business.”
Press PLAY to hear the full interview below
Image: iStock by Getty