Credit bureaus and others are hawking services that help banks probe deeply into your financial closet, Karen Blumenthal
writes in The Wall Street Journal.
The new offerings include ways to look at your rent and utility payments, figure out your income, gauge your home's value and even rate your banking habits based on details like whether your direct deposits have stopped. All of this could influence your financial freedom—not to mention the number of junk-mail solicitations you receive.
For example, Fair Isaac, the company that created the FICO score, is marketing bank-depositor behavior scores, which are used by banks to assess their own customers.
The scores are based on balances, deposit records and withdrawal activity, says Debb Gordon, a senior principal consultant at Fair Isaac. Unlike credit scores—which are most affected after payments are late or credit is maxed out—behavior scores can be a leading indicator of credit risk. They also can help banks identify which of their customers might be ripe for additional services and rewards programs and which might need special attention because, for instance, their direct deposits had stopped.
Other tools let banks estimate your income, examine your rent payments, and analyze your ability to repay a debt.
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