Should Social Media Affect Your Creditworthiness?

theodp writes "Betabeat's Adrianne Jeffries takes a look at the questionable young science of using social media to evaluate creditworthiness. As banks start nosing around Facebook and Twitter, Jeffries explains, the wrong friends might just sink your credit. 'Let's take a trip with the Ghost of Christmas Future,' she suggests. 'The year is 2016, and George Bailey, a former banker, now a part-time consultant, is looking for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for a co-op in the super-hot neighborhood of Bedford Falls (BeFa). He has never missed a loan payment and has zero credit card debt. He submits his information to the online-only PotterBank.com, but halfway through the application process, the website asks for his Facebook login. Then his Twitter. Then LinkedIn. The cartoon loan officer avatar begins to frown as the algorithm discovers Mr. Bailey's taxi-driving buddy Ernie was once turned down by PotterBank for a loan; then it starts browsing his daughter Zuzu's photo album, 'Saturday Nite!' And what was this tweet from a few years back: "FML, about to jump off a goddamn bridge"?' So, could George piggyback his way to a better credit score by adding Larry and Sergey to his Google+ Circles?"

Comments

No, obviously

[pjc50]

And in the EU there are data protection and privacy laws that could be used to deter this kind of thing.

That bank would be bankrupt fastly

[marcosdumay]

Everybody that uses social networks have connections to somebody that gone broke, or made bad comments on the past. That fictional bank wouldn't be able to lend money. Thus wouldn't generate any revenue.

Searching social networks will probably happen on the real world, but you can bet the information the banks will gather will be way saner than that, and they won't jump to conclusion that fast.

Now, about the real problem. Why is everybody so concerned about their credit worthness?

Re:That bank would be bankrupt fastly

[Froggels]

Now, about the real problem. Why is everybody so concerned about their credit worthness?
You must be from Europe. Over the past 20 years in the USA (and I think Canada) a person's credit worthiness is everything. Both positive as well as negative information is reported and not having a decent credit score can negatively impact your quality of life. It is not at all uncommon for potential employers to investigate prospective employees' credit scores. As an American I find these increasingly intrusive trends in the US quite disturbing as it all seems to somehow fall under employers' rights to "free speech" as everything seems to be a "public record" these days. What the US needs are EU style data protection laws.

Re:That bank would be bankrupt fastly

[BMoore60610]

Now, about the real problem. Why is everybody so concerned about their credit worthness? You must be from Europe. Over the past 20 years in the USA (and I think Canada) a person's credit worthiness is everything. Both positive as well as negative information is reported and not having a decent credit score can negatively impact your quality of life. (...) What the US needs are EU style data protection laws.

You don't have to be from Europe to see the lies behind the current system of credit in America. The whole thing is designed so that people must have debt in order to beg the banks for more debt. It's absolutely crazy. If we teach our children to save for the things they need (and do so ourselves) we could end this horrible economy for good. Sadly people are too intoxicated by instant gratification (i.e. selfishness) for that to ever happen on a grand scale. What the US needs is a bat-symbol-in-the-sky sized CLUE.

Re:That bank would be bankrupt fastly

[fsckmnky]

If you're using your credit card as a source of credit (instead of as a debit card), you're doing it wrong.

Credit cards are no so much a "source" of credit, as they are an access method to a line of credit. Personally, I don't use a debit card, ever, except to occasionally make the ATM machine function. Using a debit card for transactions in a brick-and-mortar store, or on the internet, exposes your funds on deposit to significant risk should it get skimmed, or a website where you used it gets compromised. Good luck getting your cash back after that happens.

With a credit card, you can simply dispute the charges, and the risk is entirely on the merchant and/or the bank. Stores would prefer people to use debit cards, because the fees on their end are lower, due to the transfer of risk to the debit card holder.

( Applies to US ... other countries, maybe, maybe not )

Lolwut?

[ToiletBomber]

"halfway through the application process, the website asks for his Facebook login. Then his Twitter. Then LinkedIn." If any site of a supposed financial institution were to start asking for my logins for any site other than it's own, frankly I would run from that site like the plague.

Re:News for nerds, stuff that matters

[MyLongNickName]

What am I not understanding? This story seems relevant to me. If you don't agree, you are free to click on a different story.

As long as it's averaged with Slashdot karma

[ewg]

Please mod me up, I want to refinance!

Re:News for nerds, stuff that matters

[Anonymous Coward]

What am I not understanding? This story seems relevant to me. If you don't agree, you are free to click on a different story.

Really? How is this relevant:

"He submits his information to the online-only PotterBank.com, but halfway through the application process, the website asks for his Facebook login. Then his Twitter. Then LinkedIn."

First, Banks don't investigate you, they just check with the Credit Agency.
Second, this would require a change to what is allowed to count against your credit score, credit rating companies cannot just arbitrarily pick random shit.
Next, this would require a wholesale change in the entire way our society handles private contracts. Giving the logins above would be a breech of TOS for all those sites just to start with.
Additionally, this would require a complete 180 turn in regards to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Currently if someone were to login using your credentials, they would technically be in violation of the Act as it would be considered Unauthorized Access to a Computer or Network Device, which just so happens to be a Federal Felony.
And Finally, the second any of those things were done there would be a court case challenging the practice on the grounds of Right to Free Association.

So in closing, no this is not relevant, and if you insist on having it then it should be in the Idle section not on the front page.