Credit scores were invented in the 1950s. I’d estimate that the US financial system has improved substantially since then, in both absolute and relative terms.

“In 1956, engineer Bill Fair teamed up with mathematician Earl Isaac to create Fair, Isaac and Company, with the goal of creating a standardized, impartial credit scoring system. Within two years, they had begun selling their first credit scoring system.”

You might recognize the names Fair and Isaac as the F and I in FICO.

https://www.opploans.com/oppu/articles/a-brief-history-of-cr...

Yes, but probably by being much more conservative and relying on the branch managers to have a close working relationship, or long standing banking relationship with the people seeking credit.

When that gets more automated - i.e. giving credit to somebody you've never met, then a centralized automated system for verifying trustworthiness is also needed to compensate.

It may even have the net effect of allowing some people to get credit that never could before, so swings and roundabouts I guess.

Nothing is stopping anyone from lending, afaik, on other basises. Basees? Ba...sis.

Biases I'd say

No, it didn't, it worked that WASP attendees of the bank manager's church got good rates and anyone born on the wrong side of town got turned away.

Bank of America was founded in 1904 -- well before credit scores became a thing -- to provide banking services to Italian-Americans, who could not usually obtain service from other banks due to ethnic discrimination.

It's also worth noting that banks couldn't operate across state lines until sometime in the 80s, so it wasn't unusual to see a lot of different smaller banks.

Which is a good example of why you need financial systems to eliminate ethnic and religious biases in lending.

This comment outs you as someone who thinks in Twitter/Reddit memes.