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Equihax

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Re: Equihax

#201

Post by dx034 »

sixothree wrote: post #182
takeda wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You missing the point. A single person exposing their SSN right now will suffer, but if everyone's SSN is accepted the companies would have to acknowledge that SSN is no longer secret (in fact it never was intended to be secret). This whole mess could be trivially fixed by credit bureaus introducing a PIN for every person and require it for opening a new credit line (issue is whether they could keep it safe, but at l…

You forgot your credit score.

The number itself doesn't tell you much. The score of someone who was constantly indebted can be high as long as they always paid on time. Higher than for someone who earns >$100k per year and never needed to take on debt. Obviously very low scores tell you that something's likely wrong (if the data is correct), but medium to high scores without the credit report don't say much about a person.

Re: Equihax

#202

Post by dx034 »

bluetwo wrote: post #178
thedevil wrote: post #18

If I were the real hacker, I would prove it by leaking information that wasn't already public. If I were someone pretending to be the real hacker, I would show a screenshot of SSNs that I could find with Google (e.g. Kim Kardashian, Donald Trump, and Bill Gates).

If I were trying to prove I had the data, I would pick a very rich but private street, say in Bevery Hills or Jackson Hole, and release all data from all people who lived there. Chaos.

Don't think it's an issue for them, they can hire a lawyer to ensure that no fraudulent account is opened or stays open.

Re: Equihax

#203

Post by dx034 »

Beltiras wrote: post #30

I wonder if this will introduce instability in credit for consumers. Could this actually have long term ramifications for the US economy?

From what I hear it will just be uncomfortable for customers. Banks will have to make sure that you're really who you are. Where you could open an account with SSN before you'll now need more proof that it's you. Meaning you'll have to supply more documents and more "security questions".

That could lead people to not open an account but probably won't deter people from taking out a loan. But will be a big annoyance for customers.

Re: Equihax

#204

Post by dx034 »

takeda wrote: post #152
jerf wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Who would store date of birth as a string?" Enterprise. "If we are stringifying dob why is address still seperated?" Enterprise. "Why are the credit report reasource Ids in the thousands not 1M +?" Enterprise. "Why is the file size null but the file is listed with it's mimeType?" Enterprise. Be grateful you are in a position to be horrified. I'm currently fighting my way through a system that is not currently "Enter…

So a different question: why would enterprise store it in a JSON? :)

Some new interface so that they can claim they're "Fintech" to others while the core still runs on a mainframe. At least that's how banks manage to create nice apps while using a core system from the 70s.

Re: Equihax

#205

Post by dx034 »

hedora wrote: post #87
msumpter wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dunno why, but just surprised that Kim K's credit score with Equifax is 643. Unrelated, sorry.

That makes sense to me. Having zero debt (and no credit cards) can easily knock your score that low, even if you have a perfect payment record. The whole credit score thing is an extortion game: To the consumer: Want a loan? Buy everything on cash back cards. To vendors: Don't like the fact that we're upping transaction fees? What percentage of your customers use credit cards again? If they actually were worried abou…

Not only that. Celebrities that got money quickly often end up with debt or very little money. Having access indirectly via family members is no guarantee. For a bank, such a client can be very risky, much riskier than someone with a regular income.

Re: Equihax

#206

Post by sixothree »

dx034 wrote: post #201
sixothree wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot your credit score.

The number itself doesn't tell you much. The score of someone who was constantly indebted can be high as long as they always paid on time. Higher than for someone who earns >$100k per year and never needed to take on debt. Obviously very low scores tell you that something's likely wrong (if the data is correct), but medium to high scores without the credit report don't say much about a person.

That is after all what we're talking about here.

Re: Equihax

#207

Post by bluetwo »

dx034 wrote: post #202
bluetwo wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I were trying to prove I had the data, I would pick a very rich but private street, say in Bevery Hills or Jackson Hole, and release all data from all people who lived there. Chaos.

Don't think it's an issue for them, they can hire a lawyer to ensure that no fraudulent account is opened or stays open.

You miss the point. It's not about protecting yourself from credit fraud. It's about every one of your snooty neighbors knowing your financial situation. And you knowing theirs.

Re: Equihax

#208

Post by int_19h »

skookum wrote: post #199
int_19h wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Income is more important than wealth, anyway. Again, there are many countries - including First World European countries - that don't have the credit score system, or only have reports on non-payments (usually govt-run). They seem to be doing just fine.

Lenders in the US are just trying to maximize their risk-adjusted profit - there's no conspiracy here. If income alone was just as good as income + debt servicing history for making the statistical decisions required to maximize credit industry profits (decisions like whether or not to lend, at what rate, at what ratio to income/assets, etc), do you think the lenders would pay the overhead of the additional useless t…

Not at all. My point, rather, is that the credit industry can still function pretty damn well without having access to aggregated credit history and scores, and so banning the practice altogether, or severely limiting the amount of data so collected, in the interests of public good (privacy protections etc), should be considered a viable option on the table.

Re: Equihax

#209

Post by Karunamon »

sova wrote: post #106
Karunamon wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The concept of credit scores has a reason to exist, it's just our implementation is broke a million times over. There's nothing wrong with a business loaning you money having the knowledge aforehand that you don't pay your obligations on time.

So it is! Yet, the ideal score is not one that reflects ability to repay, but ability to say conveniently under the thumb of a credit card company.

If by "under the thumb of" you mean "using less than 30% of available credit and carrying some kind of balance". There's no need to apply melodrama to a simple matter of statistics to answer the question of whether someone can use credit responsibly.
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