Re:I Got Access to My Secret Consumer Score
by CPLX on Monday November 04, 2019 @08:58AM
(#21441626)
Well sure. And a pretty core impetus for a company like Equifax keeping data on loan repayments is also better fraud detection. That's even more true in the insurance business which uses consumer credit agency data extensively.
Fundamentally what they are doing seems like the same thing. They're keeping a file on people that corporations are using to decide if they're trustworthy.
We decided a long time ago that consumers need to have the right to see and challenge that data for accuracy, as well as to have limits on how long it can be held against them. I see absolutely no reason why those principals should not apply here as well.
And it seems at least arguable that they already do. Clearly there's arguments on both sides, but reading the basic definitions here on what comprises a credit report and a credit reporting agency, and the prohibition on reports more than seven years old, it seems like a non-frivolous case could be made:
Something like 80% of customers have issued a chargeback, 86% of chargebacks are "friendly fraud", increasing at a rate of 41% every two years. The dollar figure I've heard is $20+ Billion in friendly fraud.
So, obviously there's an altruistic nature to why a company like Sift has this data. But, I'm of the opinion that they saw the dollar value in this type of scoring and collection system.