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Do Firefox Users Pay More For Car Loans?
RandyOo writes "Someone wrote in to The Consumerist to report an interesting discovery: while shopping online for a car loan, Capital One offered him different rates, depending on the browser he used! Firefox yielded the highest rate at 3.5%, Opera took second place with 3.1%, Safari was only 2.7%, and finally, Google's Chrome browser afforded him the best rate of all: 2.3%!
A commenter on the article claims to have been previously employed by Capital One, and writes: If you model the risk and revenue of applicants, the type of browser shows up as a significant variable. Browsers do predict an account's performance to some degree, and it will affect the rates you will view. It isn't a marketing test. I was still a bit dubious, but at least one of her previous comments backs up her claims to have worked for a credit card company.
Considering the outcry after it was discovered that Amazon was experimenting with variable pricing a few years back, it seems surprising that consumers would be punished (or rewarded), based solely on the browser they happen to be using at the time!"
Who's saying it is? Correlation is really all insurance rates need to be based on.
which is totally what she said
I got a quote for -£240 using Lynx
Correlation may not imply causation, but it certainly does waggle its eyebrows meaningfully in causations direction.
Just turn JavaScript off and you'll get the higher 3.50% every time ...
Seems like something's up with their variables; A different cg variable causes a different rate for the same zip code.
This calls for a Firefox add-on or greasemonkey script that will take such pages, request the pages with different user-agents, and compare the resulting pages for differences. If the only difference is a single numerical value, it should be easy enough to catch. And then print it to the user in a neat table or graph.
http://xkcd.com/552/
Obviously you fail to understand how my superior browser makes me a better human being than you. As such, I will disregard the rest of your post. It is likely just to bore me, or possibly even lead to a headache. When you realize the error of your ways, and are willing to admit that I am right in this and all things, I will once again indulge you.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
What the interest rate for IE was?
I just tried this with the three browsers I currently have installed. Firefox and Chrome both offered me 3.50%, while IE8 offered me 2.30%. Firefox also used a completely different style sheet than both IE8 and Chrome.
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
Technically, i think the W3C standards for HTML 4.0 require a 3.5% interest rate. The other browsers are just providing proprietary rates in a standards breaking battle of oneupmanship. I think HTML 5 attempts to address this issue with the new heavily scriptable InterestCanvas element.
Sure, but in this case it makes perfect sense. Obviously anyone using Firefox is a filthy open source hippy who demands everything for free. If you tried to loan money to a Firefox user he'd probably just spend it all on weed and then claim your demands to pay back the money violate his privacy in some way.
Opera users aren't good people to lend to either, since none of them have any income. They spend all of their time scanning the Internet for stories about browsers (any browser) so they can jump in and extol the virtues of Opera. This leaves no time to hold down a real job.
Safari users are good people to lend to because, since they're using an Apple product, you already know they're accustomed to paying huge premiums for slightly shinier versions of various consumer goods. All you have to do is send the bill in an elegantly designed box and they'll pay it without question every month.
Chrome users are the best because their close relationship with Google shows they've already given up on the whole concept of privacy and will gladly supply you with any information you ask for. Plus, all you have to do is tell them you're not evil and not only will they allow you to do whatever you want no matter how evil it is, they'll actually defend your actions to others!
Clearly browser choice is and should be a significant factor in the lending business.
Used to work there. Capital One has done this for many, many years. They used to send snail mailers with different rates to random households in the same neighborhood. The CEO is one of the early proponents of experimental marketing.
The sad thing is that you have to use your choice of browser to define yourself and make yourself feel superior to others. I don't need to resort to such immature behavior to validate my self worth. I'm a Mac owner.
Alex, I'll take keybindings not used by Emacs for $400....