credit decisions based on facebook friends?

reason2

Any one else read this?

Lenders could soon be scrutinising our social media pages before deciding to approve loans or credit cards. This means that our creditworthiness could be judged on who we’re friends with on Facebook or who we interact with on Twitter.

Why are they doing this?

The idea behind this form of credit assessment is that those who have a good credit record are more likely to socialise and be friendly with others with equally good credit records.

Assessing a person’s online presence can also help to build an idea of personality type so without even meeting you, a lender could build a picture of who you are and how responsible you may be as a borrower.

Is it just social media?

Unfortunately it’s not just your online social presence that lenders might soon be analysing as even payment information from top online marketplaces can be used to understand your online spending habits. Your cyber shopping history can then be used to figure out how much of a risk you are to lend to.

This could even mean assessing how long you take to settle the payment on a won bid from an online auction site and deciding whether you might be late paying back a loan.

Believe it or not, some overseas companies are even assessing a borrower’s creditworthiness by scrutinising their grammar and punctuation when filling out online forms and deducting points for mistakes.

Can they use my online data?

It’s important to remember that any information that you yourself make public online could be used by anyone.

Most of us might not like the idea of our online presence being used to judge how likely we are to be responsible with a loan but with personal data so freely self-published online it seems obvious that lenders would seek to use it.

Remember, it’s already common for employers to check out a person’s social media before giving them a job so it could be argued that it’s not any different for a lender to ‘understand’ the borrower before taking the risk of lending money.

Is this happening in the UK now?

At the moment no, this form of credit assessment is only being used by overseas lenders but it’s predicted that the scrutiny of the social media profiles and online presence of borrowers will make its way to the UK by the end of the year.

At Noddle, we're really interested in how this new form of credit assessment might play out in the UK market so you can be sure that when we hear more about it, we're going to tell you.

If this story of social media scrutiny hasn't put you off too much, feel free to come share your opinion over at our Facebook and Twitter pages. Both are great places for all the latest Noddle news and interesting stories from the financial world.

[Deleted User]

reason2 wrote: »

Believe it or not, some overseas companies are even assessing a borrower’s creditworthiness by scrutinising their grammar and punctuation when filling out online forms and deducting points for mistakes.

Now that makes a lot of sense.

You only need to read the posts on MSE to see how punctuation acts as an guide to someone's approach to their finances.

Loan brokers would go out of business if everyone could correctly identify a full stop on their keyboard.

fermi

Had that email from Noddle as well.

kelp7

Load of rubbish. I only use Facebook anyway and I can change my name to Mr Blobby if i want to on there.

You-kip

reason2 wrote: »

Any one else read this?

Lenders could soon be scrutinising our social media pages before deciding to approve loans or credit cards. This means that our creditworthiness could be judged on who we’re friends with on Facebook or who we interact with on Twitter.

Why are they doing this?

The idea behind this form of credit assessment is that those who have a good credit record are more likely to socialise and be friendly with others with equally good credit records.

Assessing a person’s online presence can also help to build an idea of personality type so without even meeting you, a lender could build a picture of who you are and how responsible you may be as a borrower.

Is it just social media?

Unfortunately it’s not just your online social presence that lenders might soon be analysing as even payment information from top online marketplaces can be used to understand your online spending habits. Your cyber shopping history can then be used to figure out how much of a risk you are to lend to.

This could even mean assessing how long you take to settle the payment on a won bid from an online auction site and deciding whether you might be late paying back a loan.

Believe it or not, some overseas companies are even assessing a borrower’s creditworthiness by scrutinising their grammar and punctuation when filling out online forms and deducting points for mistakes.

Can they use my online data?

It’s important to remember that any information that you yourself make public online could be used by anyone.

Most of us might not like the idea of our online presence being used to judge how likely we are to be responsible with a loan but with personal data so freely self-published online it seems obvious that lenders would seek to use it.

Remember, it’s already common for employers to check out a person’s social media before giving them a job so it could be argued that it’s not any different for a lender to ‘understand’ the borrower before taking the risk of lending money.

Is this happening in the UK now?

At the moment no, this form of credit assessment is only being used by overseas lenders but it’s predicted that the scrutiny of the social media profiles and online presence of borrowers will make its way to the UK by the end of the year.

At Noddle, we're really interested in how this new form of credit assessment might play out in the UK market so you can be sure that when we hear more about it, we're going to tell you.

If this story of social media scrutiny hasn't put you off too much, feel free to come share your opinion over at our Facebook and Twitter pages. Both are great places for all the latest Noddle news and interesting stories from the financial world.

Possibly the biggest Nonsense ever written on MSE.

fermi

http://www.uploadlibrary.com/Noddle/NoddleExtras04Sept2013.html

You-kip

fermi wrote: »

http://www.uploadlibrary.com/Noddle/NoddleExtras04Sept2013.html

Nonsense and don't believe such utter bull.

MargaretB_2

Even supposing they could get into your Facebook pages, they cannot say what your friends' credit ratings are without their permission anyway?

bargainbetty

What a pile of cobblers. It would be break two separate articles of the EC Human Rights (privacy, right to family life).

Maestro.

bargainbetty wrote: »

What a pile of cobblers. It would be break two separate articles of the EC Human Rights (privacy, right to family life).

Politicians and the NSA seem to be doing a good job of that already.

Personally I'm not holding my breath, "they" seem to be trying anything they can at the moment.

kelp7

Seriously, how do they expect to find you? I have friends on Facebook who are listed under nothing like their real names... and it's extremely easy to change your name on there.