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IMF working paper suggests using browsing history in credit score calculations

extremetech.com

201–210 of 247 posts

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

#201
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last year, I tried to put together some sane information about the statistics of testing[1] plus a simple app that allows you to play with the arithmetic[2]. It took very little time to put it together. Everything on it is factually accurate. However, it took me three months to get all the bans on it removed by which point I had given up on the notion of providing sober commentary instead of constant breathless panic…

I can't see that domain, it's blocked on our corporate network, but those seem like odd numbers to have picked. Lateral flow tests have a 0.3% false positive rate, and a 23% false negative rate. With those numbers, at a 5% infected rate, 7% of all positive test results will be false, rather than 34%. But that ignores a major factor, which is that testing isn't uniformly distributed. It's inevitably going to be skewed…

> I can't see that domain, it's blocked on our corporate network,

Notes: https://archive.ph/hwbSf

App: https://archive.ph/ntqR3

> Lateral flow tests have a 0.3% false positive rate

In the lab ... which is not the same as the real world.

> which is that testing isn't uniformly distributed.

The comments were in the context of efforts to test everyone at least once or twice a week whether symptomatic or not.

> The danger with testing really isn't the false positive rate.

Only if you assume there is no cost to false positives.

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

#202

Can anyone explain to me what credit score is and what it's used for? Does it have to have something to do with credit cards, taking loans or mortgages? (I'm from Europe and I've never borrowed money. I even only use a prepaid credit card, always wondered what benefits a real credit card would even bring.)

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/ficoscore.asp

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

#203
post #117
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It was only within the past few decades that being a nerd stopped having social stigma and we became elevated to the social status of normal people. But we don't have any real power since lawyers still have a monopoly on that. They fill all the seats in congress, even though they're .5% of the population. They have the power to read our emails. But if you think about it, legal code is really just a primitive form of…

Revenge of the Nerds 5: Endgame.

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

#204

Somehow I have a feeling that each passing day, things are getting tighter and tighter and private corporation and government institutions are getting more controlling and totalitarian. That feeling like slowly being boiled into 1984.

Something something Chinese social credit evil, something something fighting for "freedom" and "democracy".

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

#205
post #119

Somehow I have a feeling that each passing day, things are getting tighter and tighter and private corporation and government institutions are getting more controlling and totalitarian. That feeling like slowly being boiled into 1984.

I believe the low quality low hanging fruits of my life are being slowly squeezed out by stupid corporate and government policies. But it’s a glass half full for those aware and able to see it for what it is. The end game is me sitting under a tree somewhere with a picnic in the middle of nowhere with someone I have a genuine connection with and no technology at hand.

Hah. Good luck finding a "genuine connection" without technology, in a world where technology mediates every interaction.

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

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a mortgage that is fixed interest and not backed by the government in anyway... So I think you might be wrong on how the risk is calculated. I can't see how any new risk is added in a fixed rate. In fact I can't see how a non fixed rate would really be good for anybody, and would keep the risk fluctuating for all parties involved.

If you have a fixed rate mortgage, the bank bears an interest rate risk. If the interest rate goes up, the bank could be getting more money in interest, but they aren't. If you have an adjustable-rate mortgage, you bear the interest rate risk.

No, the bank has at risk the capital loaned, which they payed out. A risk is not a "loss" in a hypothetical amount of money that maybe could be had in the future given market conditions which are not predictable.

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

#207
post #188
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have fixed interest rate mortgages in Canada, but the fixed rate is only valid for a specific period (typically 5 years). After this, the mortgage needs to be either renewed for another term at then-current rates, or transferred to a new lender.

We have these in the US too, they're called adjustable-rate mortgages.

Yes, but hardly anyone uses them because fixed rate mortgages are so much better of a deal in most cases. The government owned guarantors (Fannie/Freddie mainly) are the main reason that 30 year mortgages can be offered at such low rates in the U.S.

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

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, my original comment is merely a criticism of credit score and not the entire consumer lending infrastructure. Three credit bureaus purport to have a comprehensive opinion of someone's credit worthiness without considering their income and that's broken, full-stop.

> Again, my original comment is merely a criticism of credit score and not the entire consumer lending infrastructure Then why did it explicitly say that income was not considered in creditworthiness ? The conflation of that with credit score was from this line in your comment: “Why then do we not take income into account in credit worthiness?” My response was directed at the error in the explicit premise of this que…

Exactly, a credit score is supposed to correlate with someone’s willingness to repay debts. Income is used to determine someone’s ability to repay. Almost all lending decisions evaluate both.

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

#209
post #78
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> If you lie, you may be committing credit card fraud.

It seems like we're heading for a society lying and fraud are engaged in and almost tolerated a lot more, and certainly where resources for enforcement are stripped.

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

#210
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 inco…

Most credit cards adjust credit limits based on income levels

This is definitely true although 99% of the time they rely on self reported income. American Express is one exception that is known to occasionally “Financial Review” big spenders, asking the borrower to authorize release of their prior IRS tax transcripts.
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