Be careful with what you post on social media; it could affect your credit score. The Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) is in the process of finding new ways to assess a person's creditworthiness, according to Forbes.
Not only will the organization be looking at information on social media sites, but they will also be looking through phone records.
Their aim is to find a new way to price loans, as well as to reach more people who may otherwise be "off the grid," in terms of a financial history, NPR reported. The data will be looked at information compiled on a spectrum, not necessarily looking at certain posts, but rather checking for repeated words, phrases and activities.
"If you look at how many times a person says 'wasted' in their (Facebook) profile, it has some value in predicting whether they're going to repay their debt," said FICO chief executive Will Lansing, according to The Chicago Tribune.
This isn't anything new, however, as most companies, employers and retailers sift through consumers' personal information found on social media websites on a daily basis.
Many might see this as an invasion of privacy, but the intrusion won't necessarily have a negative impact on consumers, Forbes noted. This data will allow FICO to have more information to go through and analyze, and in many cases, it will raise someone's credit or allow access to those who would otherwise be denied.
