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IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

extremetech.com

71–80 of 247 posts

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#71

This is bizarre. I don't live in the US and have questions. a) how do they acquire users' web history? Do they purchase it from ISP? b) how do they know what ISP to ask? c) how does the ISP know my web history? Last time I checked, almost all websites I visit use https, so the only thing they can see is domain, not /pathname/ d) how does it feel to poke your nose where it doesn't belong?

Additionally, take a look at the official Californian data Broker registry:

https://oag.ca.gov/data-brokers

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#72
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A better conversation is whether IMF/credit scores deserve to exist in the first place >Bitcon/DeFi will render them obsolete in a few years' time anyway. Credit scores exist because banks want to know how likely they're going to get their money back. I'm not sure how that'd be replaced with "bitcoin/difi". Most of the "loans" I see are difi are either flash loans or overcolateralized loans, which have limited appli…

You know I've been wondering about that! Can an autonomous bot on some smart contract have a credit score? Why is credit a privilege only humans can enjoy? We should be able to spool up a persistent pseudonym that can have a credit score based solely on its selectively disclosed transaction history since inception. If we screw up the credit score of that pseudonym, we should be able to create another and another. The…

>Can an autonomous bot on some smart contract have a credit score? Why is credit a privilege only humans can enjoy?

companies and even countries can have credit scores, so it's not something that "only humans can enjoy".

>We should be able to spool up a persistent pseudonym that can have a credit score based solely on its selectively disclosed transaction history since inception.

Part of what gives credit scores value is that you only have one identity, so you can't create burner accounts and default all the loans on them.

>The market decides what score to give based whatever factor it feels relavant, which should result in abuse prevention over the long term.

The market will react by treating pseudonyms the same way websites treat tor exit nodes: with extreme suspicion. Using a pseudonym with little history and/or "real" identity tied to it would essentially put you in the "default imminent" category of credit ratings.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#73
post #64

Sounds nice, I am in full control of my browser history, at least the one that the IMF will see, sign me up. Soon, privacy is for nerds only anyway.

Privacy is already for “nerds” only. Coincidentally, I brought up Ublock Origin last night at a gathering, and multiple people claimed they had never heard of a browser extension.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#74
post #53

Credit scores are so fundamentally broken anyway. In financial analysis of a company, the number one item you tend to look at is "free cash flow" - the "cash available for the company to repay creditors or pay dividends and interest to investors." [1] Why then do we not take income into account in credit worthiness? Why do I not periodically upload my W2 or tax return to the credit bureaus in order to show that yes,…

Can you tell us who is giving out large loans without verifying income?

All major US credit card issuers. Many auto lenders. Most of consumer credit outside of mortgages operates without any real income verification.

Here, "large" runs at least up to $50k-$100k per lender without any meaningful income verification.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#75

Credit scores are so fundamentally broken anyway. In financial analysis of a company, the number one item you tend to look at is "free cash flow" - the "cash available for the company to repay creditors or pay dividends and interest to investors." [1] Why then do we not take income into account in credit worthiness? Why do I not periodically upload my W2 or tax return to the credit bureaus in order to show that yes,…

>Why then do we not take income into account in credit worthiness? Why do I not periodically upload my W2 or tax return to the credit bureaus in order to show that yes, I'm credit-worthy because my income makes it possible to service my debt?

Is this supposed to be better? Right now I can apply and get credit cards without mailing my paystub. That actually seems better than companies having regular updates of my income, which they can use for evil marketing purposes.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#76
post #53

Credit scores are so fundamentally broken anyway. In financial analysis of a company, the number one item you tend to look at is "free cash flow" - the "cash available for the company to repay creditors or pay dividends and interest to investors." [1] Why then do we not take income into account in credit worthiness? Why do I not periodically upload my W2 or tax return to the credit bureaus in order to show that yes,…

Can you tell us who is giving out large loans without verifying income?

On larger loans, sure. But the credit score metric that is the first indicator does not inherently use income. You self report with no verification whatsoever.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#78
post #74
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you tell us who is giving out large loans without verifying income?

All major US credit card issuers. Many auto lenders. Most of consumer credit outside of mortgages operates without any real income verification. Here, "large" runs at least up to $50k-$100k per lender without any meaningful income verification.

They usually ask you for your income in the credit card application. If you lie, you may be committing credit card fraud.

Re: IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

#80
post #64

Sounds nice, I am in full control of my browser history, at least the one that the IMF will see, sign me up. Soon, privacy is for nerds only anyway.

Privacy is already for “nerds” only. Coincidentally, I brought up Ublock Origin last night at a gathering, and multiple people claimed they had never heard of a browser extension.

That's nice, but have you ever heard someone refer to IE as "just the normal internet"?

Anyways, Whatever the law says, us nerds should be in charge anyway, right?! Or at least we should have some inherent privilege. These guys at the IMF have great ideas.

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