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Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

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101–110 of 205 posts

Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

#101
post #88
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But would just the 3 US credit report companies would go bankrupt if the judicial system was doing its job ? I agree that the government should not rate credit worthiness. But we need a trusted third party that tracks your credit history (just the data of what/when you got credits, and missed payments). Something that the banks and loan shop could consult and compute their own risk assessment. In some European countr…

Blockchain would probably work.

Oh HN, never change!

Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

#102

It's interesting seeing the American perspective on this. The perpetual mistrust of government would, I think, be warranted were that government not elected by the populace. As it is, I am a little confused why the same skepticism is not directed at the for-profit entities now operating the credit scoring system.

It's not really surprising considering how many people dislike the current administration.

People don't trust credit industries or the government. But with the stories popping around ICE, with the history of government registries like the no-fly list and the terrorism watch list that just got declared unconstitutional after over a decade...

Right or wrong, I think some people believe that government corruption is more dangerous than industry corruption. You have to put all of Bernie's policies into the context of, "Trump probably wasn't an aberration, and we probably will get another administration like this at some point in the future, even if it's a decade from now." American politics are pretty predictable over the long run: we have regular party swaps, and occasionally they line up so one party controls both the presidency and Congress. The wild card there is the Supreme Court, but (packing debates aside) that's likely going to remain Republican-controlled for a reasonably long time.

So odds are pretty good that anything we build now is something that Trump v2 will some day get to control.

With that in mind, remember that we've pretty recently had debates about whether or not the census was going to include a citizenship question, and whether or not the trademark office could ask for green cards. For all of Equifax's (many) faults, it's not as trivial for an administration to get to start actively disenfranchising immigrants.

People do want the credit industry to be regulated, and they want the ability to opt-out of at least some credit reporting. But they're also nervous about building a system where the people who decide the rules are the same people who run the system. The ability to apply for credit is so ridiculously important for so many people. It would give Trump v2 a lot of additional power to target unpopular groups.

Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

#103
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They want to require people to show government-issued photo IDs when voting to prove they have the right to vote.

There are a lot of things in modern society that you need a government ID to do. If adding voting to that list is the defining feature that forces the government to make it economical for every adult to have an ID, then that is a win. Everyone should have an ID because of how important they are for accessing government benefits, freedom of mobility, employment, etc. If that means that getting an ID should pay you $10…

No one opposing mandatory voter ID opposes this. But it's not what's going to happen.

Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a progressive liberal, but I believe this is hogwash. Many countries have a government issued national card for citizens. It's not a huge deal. Activists have made it seem like it's a way to suppress voters but I think that's largely BS. We could start a campaign now, or just after the next election in 2020, and get people to sign up for cards by 2028, and enforce that then. We have census every 10 years, it's so…

Republicans also conveniently oppose national ID cards and programs to provide hassle-free state IDs.

> hassle-free state IDs

What hassle? Nearly everyone has them already for driving and they're valid for 6+ years. Might take an hour or two of your time every 6 or so years.

Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

#105
post #79
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The common solution when little documentation exists is to apply ink at voting booths. Something that comes off in a few days, but otherwise bonds to the top layer of people’s skin. That’s plenty for one person one vote. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_ink As to having non residents vote, vastly more eligible voters don’t vote than people ineligible to vote. Honestly, as much hoopla as this gets it’s clear f…

A paranoid individual might claim that this ink could be tampered with or replaced with washable ink. Can the same argument not be made for requiring voter IDs? youeseh I'm replying to says it's "few numbers" adding up. Another thread from sverige in this tree links vox and nyt saying that requiring ID has small numbers effect of turnout. So saying that their concern of voter fraud is a small numbers thing kind of la…

In person voter fraud requires a large base of conspirators who are never caught, committing a federal crime on behalf of a political actor who also needs to somehow incentivize them to do so without being caught.

Whereas suppressing turn out just requires making it difficult for someone to have a bunch of ID they normally don't need on them in any part of their lives.

These laws are never just "photo ID" - they're always a box truck of weird edge rules about the type of ID.

Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> without our opt-in You do opt-in when you sign credit agreements and the like. Since all creditors require it your options are to opt-in to credit reporting or opt-out of borrowing.

> when you sign credit agreement if. So I'm not tracked if I've never taken a loan or credit card?

That is correct, sort of. If you have never had a credit card or taken out an auto loan (or student loan, or mortgage,etc...) then there are no data points on your credit report. You are still "tracked" though - you would simply have a low credit score because there is no data to determine your credit worthiness.

Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

#107
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poor people don't have IDs because they don't drive and don't have driver's licenses, and they don't have the work flexibility or the luxury to go to the DMV, afaik

This is the silliest argument against voter ID laws ever, and should be retired. [0] [1] [2] [0] https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/3/15/14909764/study-vote... [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/12/opinion/voter-id-study-re... [2] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rrBxZGWCdgs

Wow this thread reeks of classism.

You can't imagine an American that cannot afford $50-100 for a government I.D.? You can imagine (& possibly smell) the feces on the street but not the poor people who excrete it?

We know most Americans can't come up with $400 for an emergency, are you going to act like this won't impact voting?

This thread is why people are forcing diversity quotas even when it seems unnecessary, income diversity should be next.

Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

#108
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Republicans also conveniently oppose national ID cards and programs to provide hassle-free state IDs.

> hassle-free state IDs What hassle? Nearly everyone has them already for driving and they're valid for 6+ years. Might take an hour or two of your time every 6 or so years.

Or you can just send every eligible voter their voting license when they turn 18 and cut out the middleman.

Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

#109
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump revoking security clearances for nakedly partisan purposes. That isn’t a use of the OPM data, but what it enables. It is easy to imagine a future administration blacklisting political opponents from obtaining mortgages.

This can already be done with voting and party affiliation records and mortgage guidelines administered by FHFA (Fannie/Freddie/HUD), but isn’t. Government is accountable to an electorate, private businesses are not (see: Equifax).

If government is so accountable, why are there only three credit rating agencies? Why does equifax still exist? Government created this oligopoly and won’t let any new players into the market.

Re: Sanders wants to replace credit reporting companies with public credit registry

#110
Having known lots of people in the lending industry not a single one of them believes that the current credit rating system (with many I’ve talked to pointing out FICO in particularly) had any real net positive impact on the average person not so they seem to believe that banks or other lending institutions have derived any other even fit than a loophole for setting interest rates high for as many people as possible.

I think we should just go back to what we did before credit ratings, which was basically best due diligence and requiring just a little bit more documentation for a loan application

I also think in lieu of this the government can be a net positive here. In the EU this is the norm from what I understand

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