Credit rating companies now using what you post on Facebook to lower your FICO score

[dmcowen674]

11-4-2015

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/1...m_campaign=Feed:+Slashdot/slashdot+(Slashdot)

Saying "Wasted" On Facebook Can Affect Your Credit Score

The credit rating companies are now using people's social media accounts to assess their ability to repay debt.

"If you look at how many times a person says 'wasted' in their profile, it has some value in predicting whether they're going to repay their debt," Will Lansing, chief executive at credit rating company FICO, told the Financial Times.

According to the Financial Times, both FICO and TransUnion have had to find "alternative ways" to assess people who don't have a traditional credit profile — including people who haven't borrowed enough to give creditors an idea of what kind of risk they pose.

 

[dmcowen674]

They should be sued into oblivion.

This is at minimum a free speech violation.

 

[PokerGuy]

They should be sued into oblivion.

This is at minimum a free speech violation.

Free speech violation? What law grants you the right to say whatever you want without others making judgements of you based on what you've said?

If the rating agencies can determine that something you say or do is a good indicator of credit worthiness and your future ability to pay your debts, why should they not use it?

You have the right to post whatever you want, but you don't have a right to post whatever you want without consequences. You also don't have some sort of right to have things you say and do not be used in evaluating you as a potential borrower.

 

[NesuD]

Post like a fool odds are you are a fool. This works for me. Dave shouldn't be concerned until they start using what he has posted here to make that call. Now that would hurt.

 

[Newell Steamer]

It's OK - because a corporation is doing it.

 

[PokerGuy]

It's OK - because a corporation is doing it.

You think it's any different for a person? If you post a lot of stupid things on your facebook page, and I tell someone else "that guy is an idiot, look at the stupid things he posts on facebook" , why would there be any problem with it? Why is it any different when it's a company using that information to make decisions instead of a person? It's information you provide to the world, being used by someone to make decisions.

 

[waggy]

I will refrain from belief until i hear it from better sources. not just the OP either..

 

[PokerGuy]

I will refrain from belief until i hear it from better sources. not just the OP either..

It's not that I believe the OP or the dubious sources. Even if true (which I doubt), I don't see any issue with a company using information you freely provide to help them in their evaluation of you as a potential borrower.

 

[Newell Steamer]

You think it's any different for a person? If you post a lot of stupid things on your facebook page, and I tell someone else "that guy is an idiot, look at the stupid things he posts on facebook" , why would there be any problem with it? Why is it any different when it's a company using that information to make decisions instead of a person? It's information you provide to the world, being used by someone to make decisions.

And if a government entity did the same thing?

 

[Newell Steamer]

I will refrain from belief until i hear it from better sources. not just the OP either..

You should search a reputable news provider, like RT.com.

 

[PokerGuy]

And if a government entity did the same thing?

Still no issue. You freely provide information about yourself and they use it. That's different of course than spying or otherwise gaining information about you without your consent.

 

[dmcowen674]

I will refrain from belief until i hear it from better sources. not just the OP either..

Never heard of the Atlanta Journal Constitution or Clark Howard?

http://m.ajc.com/news/news/national/how-your-facebook-profile-can-affect-your-credit/npD9X/

 

[theeedude]

This is why I don't post much on FB. This is only the beginning, because now we are entering the machine learning phase, where computers will analyze your images and find correlations you may not even be aware of to your creditworthiness, insurability, etc. It's no coincidence FB and Google are offering free image hosting.

 

[momeNt]

Money is a form of speech. Spending money is then speech. Credit rating companies are effectively censoring free speech by using bank statements, debt to income, or basically any credit rating metric.

Sue them into oblivion, the fact that they are using facebook is just more reason, not the only reason.

 

[glenn1]

And if a government entity did the same thing?

We already know they don't because otherwise welfare effectively wouldn't exist considering how being a recipient is already evidence of poor decision making. Couple that with a mere observation of the ghetto/redneck idiocracy of the recipients and you'd assign a rock bottom FICO score to them also.

 

[nakedfrog]

Money is a form of speech. Spending money is then speech. Credit rating companies are effectively censoring free speech by using bank statements, debt to income, or basically any credit rating metric.

Sue them into oblivion, the fact that they are using facebook is just more reason, not the only reason.

What? I'm pretty sure "access to credit lines" is not one of our constitutional rights.

 

[Genx87]

Privacy settings, use them.

 

[OrByte]

what happens if you don't use social media? does your credit score drop even lower?

 

[Sonikku]

I swear if I made a Facebook page it would be solely batches of lies and illusion. *Snapshot of me holding a box* "Helping out the local soup kitchen on my day off from humanitarian work in Africa!"

 

[Zaap]

People that are so stupid that everything they post on Fakebook is easily read by just anyone else not on their friend list or whatever, (or they post incredibly stupid, incriminating stuff in some public profile that's easily read by just anyone) then they deserve all the negative labels possible.

Amazing the age of stupidity we live in: "I want to be able to publish 'I'm a deadbeat!' publicly for the whole world to read, but I want to retain the right to have the whole world selectively ignore what I publish!"

Does it get stupider?

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Privacy settings, use them.

This!

/thread

 

[momeNt]

What? I'm pretty sure "access to credit lines" is not one of our constitutional rights.

Credit rating companies don't give us access to credit lines. They use what should be protected speech (the use of money), in order to censor further speech.

Credit lines can be restricted, but not based on protected speech, such as income, purchase history, payment history.

I think mcowned would be in agreement with me on this.

 

[sm625]

So if I say this or that is a waste of money, and I say things like "I hate wasting money on" that reflects negatively on credit prospects? If that's what they think then more power to em. Garbage in = garbage out. Unfortunately it most likely means an even bigger bailout for someone using even more of my money to do so.

 

[MustISO]

I'm sure insurance companies do (or could do) the same thing to find risky behavior or cases of fraud.

 

[JSt0rm]

You think it's any different for a person? If you post a lot of stupid things on your facebook page, and I tell someone else "that guy is an idiot, look at the stupid things he posts on facebook" , why would there be any problem with it? Why is it any different when it's a company using that information to make decisions instead of a person? It's information you provide to the world, being used by someone to make decisions.

Thats right its not. So people being mad at sjw is wrong because they are just punishing people based on their speech as well.

Dont post on facebook whatever you dont want people to know.