Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used

consumerist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 60 posts

Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used

#41

Post by aresant »

Method behind the madness?

-= ComScore study suggests that FireFox users, while more affluent, also tend to skew considerably younger than your average Internet Explorer user

-= Pair that data with the fact that younger people have lower credit scores, and the lower your credit score, the higher your APR.

-= By showing a prospect a loan rate near to what they will qualify for, Capital One is going to close more business, and not waste resources on non-qualified leads.

VIA - http://conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2010/11/do-different-web-br...

Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used

#43

Post by unfasten »

gkoberger wrote: post #5

It's either: - A random number each time - Normal split testing using a cookie - Split testing using the user agent rather than a cookie The last one would, I suppose, be more consistent than using a cookie- after all, most people wouldn't switch browsers, but they might clear their cookies. That being said, a few companies have gotten in hot water for doing this. Amazon in 2000: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1017-245631…

I think it's normal split testing using a normal cookie. Here are the rates I get in Opera (with flash disabled) while clearing cookies between reloads:

    new   used  refinance
    3.10  4.49  4.34
    3.50  5.09  4.84
    2.70  4.09  3.94
    2.30  3.59  3.54
And here's Firefox (with flash enabled) and clearing session cookies between reloads:

    new   used  refinance
    2.70  4.09  3.94
    3.10  4.49  4.34
    2.30  3.59  3.54
    3.50  5.09  4.84

Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used

#44

Post by martincmartin »

brianbreslin wrote: post #27
martincmartin wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at ITA software for a few years, in the team that wrote the software that searches for airfares. The prices of seats and their restrictions are published, and the data format predates the web (by a large margin). There's no field for "browser type." Each seat has about a dozen prices, and the only other way the user sees a price change is by turning a given price on or off. But the protocol that asks whether…

so more importantly: how do WE get better prices?

http://matrix.itasoftware.com

That and the flyer talk forums.

Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used

#45

Post by mootothemax »

andre3k1 wrote: post #10

Just out of curiosity, is there any proof out there that airline companies discriminate based on browser choice? My thoughts are that since airline companies are the quintessential example of price discrimination they would most likely have such a system in place.

Not browser choice, but I have personally experienced one country's national airline charging a significantly higher rate when viewing the site in English, compared to the native language.

Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used

#46

Post by [deleted] »

andre3k1 wrote: post #10

Just out of curiosity, is there any proof out there that airline companies discriminate based on browser choice? My thoughts are that since airline companies are the quintessential example of price discrimination they would most likely have such a system in place.

[deleted]

Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used

#47

Post by cwp »

martincmartin wrote: post #44
brianbreslin wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so more importantly: how do WE get better prices?

http://matrix.itasoftware.com That and the flyer talk forums.

This! It's especially good when you have flexible dates, or you want to taylor your search (eg, connect through Dallas rather than Chicago). I've also used other multi-airline search sites (kayak, hipmunk, orbitz etc), but they never have the best price available. It's best to narrow it down to a few of the best options, then go price them directly on the airline's website. It usually works out significantly cheaper.

Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used

#48

Post by jpablo »

ismarc wrote: post #22
boredguy8 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the world coming to, that you have to explain vi commands on HN?

That's technically just a regular expression (perl syntax). The vi equivalent would be :%s/_/*/g Which is, replace all occurrences on all lines of '_' with ' *' EDIT: Talk about formatting fail...

Isn't that actually ed/sed syntax?

Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used

#49

Post by BillMartin »

I built something a while back which used several data sources to build a scoring profile of the applicant.

The emergent behaviours were rather interesting, anyone with a .pl tld in their email was several penalised.

The rejection rates for .pl applicants was 100% so the system worked albeit somewhat racistly.

Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used

#50

Post by jmatt »

jmreid wrote: post #29
brianbreslin wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say Safari = black turtleneck.... firefox = hoodie.... actually the chrome figure makes sorta sense. chrome is super early adopters, so likely wealthier purchasers of high-end electronics... dunno completely pulling this outta my A$$ :-)

You can say ass here. We're all adults.

That's an artifact from a past era. Likely from BBSes, gaming or IRC. I think it should come off as the equivalent to a dialect that just provides some insight to the poster. I know when I use it it's usually unintentional and subconscious. And, of course, there is the implication that if you don't like swear words then read it as such and don't be offended.

I remember it being used often in moderated fidonet[1] though that may have been limited to local and regional forums. Also to avoid the swear word filters on BBS chat in the 80s and very early 90s. And in some MMORPGs for the same reason circa 2000 to present.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet

Post reply on HN