Follow-up: Although the initial scan did not find any hits (even though my data was on the sites), a subsequent scan did a better job and Discover removed my data from 33 different hits from the 10 people search sites. I randomly spot-checked them and confirmed that my information was removed. For a free service that didn’t take up my time, I am happy with this result. I would now recommend opting in and being patient. Screenshots below:
Full review:
Discover is offering their credit card and banking customers a new free service called Online Privacy Protection (press release). Essentially, it automatically submits opt-out requests at 10 selected “people search sites”. These are creepy websites that scrape your personal information from many different publicly-available databases and then makes money by selling access. I wrote about these invasive sites previously and you may be surprised at how much information about you is floating around out there – your age, current and past addresses, phone numbers, and the names of your parents, siblings, children, cousins, and in-laws.
Once catch is that you must access this feature via the Discover app. They are still rolling it out, so it may not be available to everyone yet. I used the QR code from the link and it seemed to find it directly after installing the app.
Initially, after signing up for the service, I was disappointed that my May 2022 scan didn’t find my name on any of the databases. I was hopeful that was because I already opted out of several of these sites manually a few years ago. However, I manually checked and did find some of my information some of the sites. So the service is not perfect.
Here are the ten sites they mention, although there are more out there (not linked on purpose):
- Addresses.com
- AnyWho.com
- InstantCheckmate.com
- InstantPeopleFinder.com
- Intelius.com
- Spokeo.com
- TruthFinder.com
- USSearch.com
- YellowPages.com
- ZabaSearch.com
The scan occurs every 90 days or so. On my August 2022 scan, the app did find a bunch of hits (often multiple profiles at the same site with similar info) and went to work removing my data. I manually spot-checked a few of them and am happy to report that my information was indeed removed.
I would recommend signing up for this service now, with the knowledge that a little patience may be required.
I mainly use my Discover card for the 5% cash back categories and the occasional Amazon Pay with Points promos, but I do appreciate these side efforts. Besides being one of the first to offer a free FICO score, they also have a free Social Security and Experian credit inquiry alert service.