Today I Learned …

So I was listening to NPR on the way to work this morning, and they were airing a piece about online lenders. Apparently, these lenders look not only at your credit score, but at all KINDS of other things, before they decide to loan you money.

For example, they have a way to look at your phone, and see if the texts you send are punctuated correctly, or if they have any punctuation at all. It’s an interesting example of using education as an indicator of your credit score. And they don’t stop there.

I didn’t quite catch this part, as I was driving, and had to pay attention to the road. But these companies also have a way to look at whether you pay at the pump when you buy gas, or if you go inside to pay. The theory is that people who go inside are more likely to be smokers, on their way to get cigarettes! How crazy is that?

Of course, they don’t figure in the fact that some people just prefer to use cash. I don’t smoke, but I also tend to go inside to pay for my gas purchase. It’s folks like me who screw up their algorithms.