It happens to us all; at certain points in our lives we need to approach our bank probably to buy a significant purchase. It is almost a ritual as we are faced with those controlling the money we need. We are asked about our life-style, previous lending history (even though this is usually on file), our ability to repay over a certain period of time and our employment prospects into the future (which nowadays is rather like looking into a crystal ball for many).
But don’t worry – all this may soon be a thing of the past, at least according to one new company in a certain country I will not name. Their model will not involve the agonies of going to the bank and suffering all the anguish of an interrogation. No, their model is much simpler (?) and merely involves giving them a list of names (and maybe other personal details) of your “friends” on ‘FaceBook’, ‘Twitter’, ‘LinkedIn’ and even ‘eBay’.
They have the programs that will then review the credit-worthiness of these “friends” and based on their findings you get the financing (or not). The assumption is that if your “friends” are credit-worthy it is more than likely that you will be since people with similar tastes and habits tend to be cohesive in this respect.
I said above ‘don’t worry’. This was deliberately misleading since in my opinion I find it almost disgusting that a company somewhere can dig through the private lives of other people in order to evaluate my financial standing and to me it does not add up, as well as being a gross intrusion on both my privacy and theirs. There are too many assumptions built into this approach; what if one of the “friends” through no fault of their own has missed a repayment (perhaps through a long-term illness) and has been ‘downgraded’; does this mean that I would be similarly? Or, conversely, if my “friends” have high level of credit-worthiness it does not automatically follow that I am the same.
Basically, I find the whole concept alarming and extremely worrying, and this is one reason for my NOT having anything to do with any ‘social networking’ sites – my privacy is sacrosanct and will remain so.
Until next time (without “friends” and credit),
Peripatetic Scribe
Nice one P.S. This is the third example I have heard and read about. There's a guy in Australia who has started a similar "game" as well as one in California (I believe) and ow this one from you as I don't believe it's the same as I have already heard about. I think it's an assault on my personality in many ways and, like you, I want nothing to do with it. I wonder when some country will maker it illegal.....
ReplyDeleteThanks Anonymous. I hadn't heard of the other two you mention but it's interesting that the concept is spreading; like you I hope it is made illegal somehow as it is an assault on ones privacy, in my opinion.
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