Credit card companies such as Capital One carry out similar rapid-fire calculations as soon as someone shows up on their website. They can often access data on web browsing and purchasing patterns, which provide loads of insights about the potential customer. Chances are, the person clicking for new Jaguars is richer than the one checking out a 2003 Taurus on Carfax.com. Most scoring systems also pick up the location of the visitor’s computer. When this is matched with real estate data, they can draw inferences about wealth. A person using a computer on San Francisco’s Balboa Terrace is a far
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