Re:The law depends on compute power
by Al-Khwarizmi on Sunday July 31, 2016 @05:20AM
(#12196244)
AFAIK yes, it always requires an in-person appointment directly or indirectly.
There are some online banks without offices, but typically they are subsidiaries of physical banks, or they have deals with them, so they will only give you credit if they have seen you at the physical bank first.
Re:The law depends on compute power
by marcosdumay on Saturday July 30, 2016 @06:03PM
(#12194855)
In Brazil, I can get some credit lines (usually small) by just spending more than I have on the bank, for others (a bit bigger) I'll need to enter my pin number either on a phone or an ATM, and for big credit lines, I'll have to go to the bank.
That's credit from a business you have an account with. In the US, I can often get credit from a business I have had no prior contact with with just my name and SSN. Recently, there may be multiple choice identity verification questions (pick where you used to live, what other credit accounts you have, how much their payments are, etc).
That's interesting... in Spain does getting credit require an in-person appointment? Because maybe that's a simple answer to 2/3 of the identity theft in the U.S.