New Tech Startup Uses Social Data To Determine Whether You Should Receive A Loan Or Not, So Basically If Your Friends Are Deadbeats You'll Never Be Able To Buy Anything Substantial Again
(Newser) – You’re already concerned about your credit score; one day you may also have to be concerned about your Facebook friends—because a few tech startups are using social data when determining whether to loan you money. Lenddo checks out whether your Facebook friends list includes anyone who’s ever been late paying back a Lenddo loan, and, if so, how often you interact with that person; Kreditech looks at data from Facebook, eBay, and Amazon—and also considers such factors as whether you filled out the application with all caps or no caps (neither is a good thing); Kabbage also looks at your eBay and PayPal accounts, and offers approved borrowers the option of linking Facebook or Twitter accounts to their Kabbage accounts to up their “Kabbage scores.”
“It turns out humans are really good at knowing who is trustworthy and reliable in their community,” Lenddo’s co-founder and CEO tells CNNMoney. “What’s new is that we’re now able to measure [this] through massive computing power.” For now, however, only “a niche group of borrowers” is affected by this type of social data gathering (read: likely not you). Kabbage markets itself to small online business owners; Lenddo and Kreditech focus on emerging markets where credit is hard to come by. But Kreditech has started selling its technology to bigger lenders in some countries, and the practice could go mainstream.
Well this is the fucking end right here. I have enough problems being judged as just me, let alone throwing all my shithead friends into the mix. Oh you want a loan? Sorry your friend from college forgot to return a movie back in 2006, no loan for you. Seriously, I don’t know about all of the stoolies out there but my friends are basically all degenerates, which is exactly why they’re my friends to begin with. Having responsible, cash conscious friends who think long term is for suckers. So if you’re going to judge me on who I surround myself with then I’m officially fucked. Probably never move again. Just live in the same 1 bedroom apartment for the rest of my life because no bank will come within 100 feet of me. Hermit life for me. Big Brother has officially taken over.
PS
I just realized that my friends have it way worse, because they’re friends with the internet blogger who’s last 5 purchases on paypal and Amazon were a snow cone maker, a hand claw, a monopoly tie, a nerf gun, and a bucket hat.
