That's hard to say, because bankers have resisted collecting credit data on small-business loans.
Bankers say scoring prevents bias because it minimizes the human touch.
In the past, if a loan officer didn't like that you were a man and wore an earring, it could affect your ability to get a loan, says Jim Carswell, vice-president for credit scoring at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Toronto. Skeptics say the system isn't as bloodlessly objective as it seems. Consumer credit scoring is based on practices that are common in the white community such as home-equity loans, they say, which are more likely to be recorded in databases and easily accessed. Little or no weight is given to deals common in minority neighborhoods, such as loans from community groups, sub-prime lenders, and local finance companies. These lenders often don't report to credit bureaus, so verification would require extra work and expense.