Report: Lenders Snoop Your Social Networks
Report: Lenders Snoop Your Social Networks
Posted 01/22/2010 at 7:11am
| by Paul Lilly
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Before you fill out that loan application, you may want to take a peek at your Facebook profile, because even if you don't, there's a pretty good chance your lender will, a new report suggests.
According to CreditCards.com, creditors are tapping into your social networking circle to help determine your creditworthiness. One reason they do this is to look for discrepancies in the info you provide on the credit app versus what your online profile says.
"We use social chatter as a way to bring risk down. It's a wealth of information about a person," says Rob Garcia, senior director of product strategy, The Lending Club. "If a person says he lives in a different area than the one on the application, it could be a flag. But if it matches, it greatly increases confidence."
But what's scary is that lenders aren't just using your social networking profiles to verify information, they're also making a credit decision based, in part, on what you're doing online and who you're doing it with.
"When people have large networks, they get funded two to three times faster than without," says Garcia. "We notice that good credit people invite good credit people, bad invite bad."
Get the full scoop here.
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ITGURU
January 25, 2010 at 11:57am
Thats the most stupid thing iv'e ever heard basically people dont put all there real information because they want alittle privacy. These types of social networking sites are for having fun online talking with friends meeting new people not for companys to snoop on your private life. They need to find more reliable information to base it instead of your social network site.
icebird
January 22, 2010 at 8:57am
I guess I shouldn't have removed all those friends I added to gain elvenblood party members :-P
vistageek
January 22, 2010 at 8:54am
How do all these people that snoop on facebook and other social networks get on to look at my profile and informatin? It's not like I would acccept them as friends... :-/
alex911
January 22, 2010 at 8:30am
So if i invited a bunch of celeberties on twitter I'll have good
credit! Why not start checking income and bank accounts for funds
along with bills before deciding credit worthiness. Makes a lot
more sense than "hey he has rich friends, he must have good credit!"
std error
January 22, 2010 at 8:19am
When you're unemployed even potential employers do this.
Personally I think it is alright. You willingly put that information out there so they're only being rational by trying to gather as much info as possible to lower their risk. And it is risky for them, most people don't consider the point of view of the lenders or employers and how much risk is involved and the problems with adverse selection. Think about it, do you lend money to strangers? Hell I don't even lend money to friends!
Wasn't it poor lending decisions one of the reasons we had the financial crisis? Was it because we all didn't have facebook back in 2002-2006? lol
Tekzel
January 22, 2010 at 8:30am
Actually, I agree. Lenders have a responsibility to make sure the people they lend to are likely to pay it back. Giving loans to people they knew weren't going to be able to pay it back, then having to recoup those losses from people that do is part of the problem.
I also agree with the comment about them put it out there. I don't use social networks, at all, because the only people that need to know more than one or two general facts about me are my close friends, and they already know all that they need to know. You put all your dirty laundry out on the internet for the world to see, you can NOT logically complain when they use it.
The only problem I might have with this is if people put erroneous information on the social networks. But, frankly, if you are dense enough to play that kind of game I guess you get what you get.
Sebie Kay
January 22, 2010 at 10:14am
Tekzel, I agree with you! I don't do social networking either because my friends already know my life. And I don't want strangers peering into my personal matters (oh no, I'm sad today because Fido got run over... boo hoo..).
I am, however, all for lenders taking advantage of public information. I don't want to have to pay for the loan of someone who couln't pay theirs back!
If you make it public information, then expect the public to use that information! Duh!
-=Do unto others... THEN RUN!!=-
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