Net Loan Shoppers Applying for loans online can be dangerous to your financial health. Web-based lending is still in its youth, but more than 13 million Americans have applied for new credit cards, mortgages, and auto loans online. This information includes one's number of credit cards, total debt, most recent move or job change, and payment delinquencies. Potential home buyers do get a grace period from mortgage lenders.
Businesses also feel the heat.
Lenders today are bombarded with multiple applications, and they have had to lower their origination costs to stay competitive. Naturally, automated scoring is likely to lead to the denial of credit for a high proportion of qualified borrowers. Then there are the online tire-kickers, the loan shoppers who visit lender sites to probe the process and assess the sites' trustworthiness for possible future use. Market research shows these online adults want to feel they are in control of the process, especially one as daunting as mortgage refinancing or securing an auto loan. Unfortunately, thanks to the problematic credit-scoring algorithm, that control is substantially diminished.