Terms of Disservice: An examination of the difference between the data behaviors of traditional and alternative financial service institutions

Abstract

In the United States, financially vulnerable populations, particularly low income individuals, sit in a conglomeration of vulnerabilities regarding their data privacy. Currently, consumer-firm information asymmetry is high, and low income Americans are currently at a greater risk for harm from the lack of consumer protections that defines today’s data age. This research compares levels of consumer protections embedded in financial firms’ current corporate data practices based on the product’s demographic’s income level. This comparative textual analysis of the privacy policies of financial services firms aims to shed further light on inequality within the data practices sphere.