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posted by martyb on Friday November 15 2019, @06:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the very-interesting dept.

A few days ago, Jamie Heinemeier Hansson went public with the observation that Apple Card gives better interest rates to husbands than to wives. Several sites have since picked up the story and now it has caught the attention of the US Senate.

I care about transparency and fairness. It's why I was deeply annoyed to be told by AppleCard representatives, "It's just the algorithm," and "It's just your credit score." I have had credit in the US far longer than David. I have never had a single late payment. I do not have any debts. David and I share all financial accounts, and my very good credit score is higher than David's. I had a career and was successful prior to meeting David, and while I am now a mother of three children — a "homemaker" is what I am forced to call myself on tax returns — I am still a millionaire who contributes greatly to my household and pays off credit in full each month. But AppleCard representatives did not want to hear any of this. I was given no explanation. No way to make my case.

From Gizmodo: Now a Senator Is Investigating the Sexist Apple Card Debacle

Wyden has lately taken up the bailiwick in fighting algorithmic bias. In April, he and Senator Corey Booker introduced the Algorithmic Accountability Act, which would obligate companies to assess their decision-making systems and training data "for impacts on accuracy, fairness, bias, discrimination, privacy and security." The bill has yet to move forward.

Earlier on SN:
Maybe Don't Keep Your Apple Card in a Leather Wallet, Apple Warns (2019)
Apple Unveils... a Titanium Credit Card (2019)


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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday November 16 2019, @06:40AM (1 child)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday November 16 2019, @06:40AM (#920904) Homepage Journal

    Faulty thinking from the bean counters. Employment status matters a hell of a lot for most people's ability to pay their debts. They just didn't put enough thought into the matter to get that rich people don't necessarily share the same risk flags as poor folks.

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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Saturday November 16 2019, @01:56PM

    by VLM (445) on Saturday November 16 2019, @01:56PM (#920964)

    Employment status matters a hell of a lot for most people's ability to pay their debts.

    I would tentatively agree in principle with 90% of your argument, but I think what you're aiming at and slightly missing is the old saying that lower class gets its spending money from the government, middle from sweat/labor paychecks, and upper gets their money from investment.

    Its admittedly worth pointing out that there's a lot of "10K millionaires" out there. Just 'cause you bought a $1M california house using a $999K mortgage doesn't mean you're a millionaire, although some very poor people think so, in that sense the journalist might be faking a higher economic status while actually being extremely poor. When I was a kid just graduated I got a CC with a whopping $200 credit limit, and much like the journalist I had little trouble paying it off in full every month LOL, but looking at my purchasing habits you'd think I was extremely poor. When I was at uni I always wanted a really nice new hybrid on/off road bike so when I got my first job I saved up to buy it, and then road it for hundred (thousands?) of miles on rails-to-trails conversions, but it was like $300 so I couldn't use my CC, that being over my limit, and had to withdraw money from the ATM for three days to pay in cash, LOL. Which probably looked on my credit report like I was too poor to buy a bicycle, although I actually was "wealthy" enough to pay cash rather than credit, LOL. Maybe this happened to the "wealthy" journalist.