The paranoid fringe has been warning since the Visa card was introduced in the 1950s that it provides big business with a chilling way to snoop on our most intimate shopping habits.
The Mint has added a warning to its Web site that credit-card companies could consider the purchases cash-equivalent transactions not eligible for miles, and Mint officials plan to contact credit-card issuers "to try to implement a solution, " he says.
The time has come to protect consumers from credit card companies that jacked up rates without warning. (Applause.) We signed the strongest consumer financial protection in history.
But it comes at a time when the Metropolitan Police and other forces are warning the public about fraudsters phoning people pretending to be their bank, and persuading them to part with their card and divulge their Pin code.