The recent Equifax data breach left many of us thinking about larger issues. “What value do the three big ratings bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, provide today in our emerging digital economy? Not only do these agencies dangle the sword of Damocles over our creditworthiness, they each rely on nearly identical metrics to do so,” says Robin Raskin on HuffPost. She continues, “And they have the gall to charge you to access your own data, which they collect to sell to businesses. Your data is their product.”

In this article, Robin explores the mantra “your data belongs to you and should be made available with your permission in order to get something that you want,” as it grows across the payment/lending landscape in the aftermath of the Equifax breach.