Facebook Is Not The Great Predictor Of Creditworthiness It Was Hoped To Be

Consumerist ^ | 24 February 2016 | Chris Morran

[Lorianne]

Not so long ago, a new batch of lenders got the idea that they could gauge a consumer’s credit risk from the data collected by Facebook. The social media company even patented a system for how to use data on an applicant’s Facebook friends to determine whether or not they were worth offering a loan to. And yet, so far, nothing seems to have come of these concepts.

The Wall Street Journal reports that lenders who had once been keen on the concept of using Facebook data to evaluate borrowers have soured on the idea, thanks to regulatory restrictions, and recent changes in the data that Facebook shares with third parties.

While third party developers had previously been able to easily access information about users’ photos, hometown, political affiliation, work and education histories, and relationship status, that stuff is now pretty much off limits to outside developers.

If a Facebook profile is public, a lender could choose to look at that profile and find out this information, but that’s not efficient when trying to understand behavior trends among millions of users.

Online lender ZestFinance, founded by a former chief information officer at Google, uses a wide variety of non-traditional data points to assess borrowers, but tells the Journal it never used Facebook info.

[ground_fog]

The sooner Facebook dies..the better for mankind

[CrappieLuck]

“The sooner Facebook dies..the better for mankind”

I would “Like” this if it was an option - Irony :)

[Georgia Girl 2]

The only reason I’m on FB is to keep up with my two nieces and Mr. GG2’s kids and grandkids.

[DoughtyOne]

[Mpatl]

I use Facebook for family and friends. It is great to catch up for those you care about. If anyone puts a left-leaning political message, I hide them from my feed. We are still “friends” so to speak, but I do not see their nonsense unless i check in on them to see what they actually preach. Some of it is beyond amazing.
I love picture of kids, grand kids, dogs, travel, etc. i don’t care for political messages, a game, or a math puzzle I could give two shits about. It has also helped with my occupation, in the aspect of keeping current with partners and our membership. I work for an association which has not for profit status with over 850 members.

[Fred Hayek]

This makes as much sense as corporate HR drones with the policy (brain dead ganglion reflex) that any applicant without a Fakebook profile is a psycho.