Texas colleges, alumni groups selling personal information by Keli Rabon KVUE.com
September 25, 2011 at 1:21 PM http://www.kens5.com/news/Texas-colleges-alumni-groups-selling-personal-information-130528568.html Longhorn football fans could be part of a "sold-out" crowd – one that has nothing to do with a packed game. Instead, it’s because of a contract between the Texas Exes and Bank of America that some people say “sold-out” their personal information. Martin Egwuagu graduated from UT in 2010, and he had no idea his information could be part of the deal. “That's actually a scary thought,” Egwuagu said. Texas Exes has sold the information to Bank of America since 1992. Its current contract promises to provide the names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of alumni, faculty, ticket holders, donors and even students. Texas Exes is guaranteed to make at least $6 million on the deal. Texas Exes said that it doesn't notify anyone that their personal information is being sold to Bank of America. The Association refused to go on camera but did acknowledge that it recently provided the names and addresses of 368,767 alumni. But at least one UT student said she's seen the offers. “Yeah, like all of the time for Bank of America, UT students. It's always really attractive all these things that you'll get,” said UT senior Mary Dinh. It's also an attractive deal to universities and alumni groups, who receive royalties on each account opened. The Texas Exes contract also allows the Association to make money when account holders don't pay off their credit card balance. So when a user defaults, Texas Exes makes money. “It's unfair that you're creating a system that you're benefiting from someone else's misfortune,” Dinh said. “It's a very lucrative business, and it's unfortunate that that still exists,” said Melissa Trevino, of Consumers Union. Trevino lobbies to tighten restrictions on credit card companies, especially when it comes to students. She says the new federal laws have helped, but not solved, the problem. “We would have hoped the law would have addressed stricter provisions for any type of marketing on campus,” Trevino said. Trevino says the average college student racks up $5,000 in credit card debt. Add to that bill the thousands in student loans that must be paid off, and it could take years for a graduating student to climb out of debt. “They're not really aware of all the things that are associated with owning a credit card,” Trevino said. At Texas A&M, the Association of Former Students has a 10-year, $17 million deal with Bank of America and most recently provided 257,840 names and addresses of former students. And the Texas Tech Alumni Association has a seven-year, $3.3 million deal with Chase Bank, providing the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of 193,000 students, faculty, alumni, and donors. Some students aren't worried about who is selling information. “If it's supporting the university or one of its organizations in any sort of way, I don’t know if ticket holders or donors or alumni will care that much,” UT sophomore Matt Mitchell said. UT sophomore Angelek Marler said it's an individual's choice to sign-up. “It shouldn’t be the people that mail out the lists or mail out the offers responsibility to keep you out of debt, it should be yours,” Marler said. But Egwuagu said if anyone's selling his information, he wants to know first. “Personally I don't like information being out there,” he said. Last year alone, Texas Exes made $2.4 million on this agreement. The Association says the money goes toward its operating expenses. If you would like to have your name removed from these mailing lists, Texas Exes and Texas A&M Association of Former Students says to contact the respective organization directly. _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
