Facebook & Credit Scores

From the February 9th Economist:

Some firms piece together scores by analysing applicants’ online social networks. Professional contacts on LinkedIn are especially revealing of an applicant’s “character and capacity” to repay, says Navin Bathija, the founder of Neo, a start-up that assesses the creditworthiness of car-loan applicants. Neo’s software helps determine if applicants’ claimed jobs are real by looking, with permission, at the number and nature of LinkedIn connections to co-workers. . . .

Neo’s efforts to improve accuracy include recording borrowers’ Facebook data: Mr Bathija reckons that within a year there will be enough evidence to determine if making racist comments on Facebook is correlated with a lack of creditworthiness.

Racists? Sure, let's jack up their borrowing costs. But, if linking to cat videos on Facebook is correlated with a lack of creditworthiness, people are going to get upset.

The article is worth a read as it shows where we might be heading with Big Data and credit scoring. Regulation does and undoubtedly will play a major role in drawing boundary lines around what data can be used in credit scoring. But, where Big Data offers competitive advantages, companies will seek it out. It will be tough to get the genie back in the bottle once the horses have left the barn.

H/t to Frank Venis.