Lenders Potentially To Use Social Media To Determine Credit Worthiness

So you got tagged last night at that bar pie eyed with a drink in your hand.  No biggie, right?  Well according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, if you are applying for a loan anytime soon, that photo may come back to haunt you.

We all know by now that anything you post on the internet can come back to haunt you for a long time.  But would you think your Facebook or Twitter posts could be used to determine your credit worthiness?  According to a report this week in the Wall Street Journal, some lenders are using the sites to determine whether you should get a loan.

Several firms said they are looking at a potential customer’s social media to see if there are discrepancies between what is on the loan application and what is on their posts including their LinkedIn profiles to see if the job histories match up.  Taking it one step further, some are even looking at the eBay and You Tube accounts of potential customers.

Are you friends with your Facebook friends or just “friends?”  That’s another  consideration.  They want to see how close you are with your friends!  So someone with 4,000 friends who doesn’t interact with them may be passed over for someone with 30 friends who does.  Some are even checking to see if you are using an expensive or cheap phone to manage your accounts.

On the flip side of all of this, if you manage your social media successfully, keep favorable ratings on eBay, and have a lot of viewers to your LinkedIn profile, you might look better to a potential lender.

Reportedly, regulators are looking into the trend and the Federal Trade Commission says it will host a series of seminars soon over the emerging privacy issues in how credit is evaluated.

I already know I would be in a lot of trouble if lenders were looking at my social media to see if I am a risk.  They would say that I am a stark raving alcoholic maniac in need of therapy.  But that’s what my friends already know about me.  Hmmm…maybe that’s why they won’t lend me a $20?