Social Media Debt Collection
- Lenders plan to use social media to set interest rates.
- An online payday lender will use social media to verify new customers.
- Fair Isaac plans to add social media to its FICO score.
10 Uses of Information Shared on Social Media That May Dismay its Users
People use social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to keep up with the activities of their friends and family, and to tell friends and family what they are up to. Some columnists claim Facebook is the cause of the decline in class reunion attendance, because why travel to catch up with people if you already know what they are doing?
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The information Facebook users share may result in unintended consequences, however. Here are 10 uses of social media that Bills.com found that may give social media users pause about what they post about themselves:
- CGI Group plans to release a service where a collection agent enters all known information into CGI’s product, which creates a dossier on the debtor from information found on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Monster.com
- Billfloat an online payday lender, says it plans to use social media information to verify the identity of its applicants.
- LexisNexis "Accurint for Law Enforcement" gives government agents information about what people do on social networks. This information has been used against users battling for child custody or defending themselves in criminal cases.
- Google parses Gmail users’ messages to serve advertisements based on the message's subject matter.
- Internal Revenue Service searches social media sites for evidence of taxpayers' income and location.
- INS reviews photos on social media sites to determine family relationships and evidence of fake marriages.
- HR people routinely review applicants’ online profiles when making a decision to hire a job candidate. A recent survey found that 70% of recruiters admitted to using social media for this purpose.
- MovenBank, a proposed online bank, plans to use information it finds on social media sites to determine credit worthiness and the rates it offers for loans and savings accounts.
- Fair Isaac Corp. plans to add a social media factor to its oft-used FICO credit score.
- Weemba and SoMoLend, two lending start-ups, plan to use a scoring system for lenders to rank borrowers in much the way customers rank sellers on eBay.
If You Have Debt
If you have debt that causes you distress, use the Bills.com Debt Coach for a no-cost, no-nonsense analysis of your debt resolution options.
Debt statistics
If you are struggling with debt, you are not alone. According to the NY Federal Reserve total household debt as of Quarter Q3 2023 was $17.291 trillion. Student loan debt was $1.599 trillion and credit card debt was $1.079 trillion.
According to data gathered by Urban.org from a sample of credit reports, about 26% of people in the US have some kind of debt in collections. The median debt in collections is $1,739. Student loans and auto loans are common types of debt. Of people holding student debt, approximately 10% had student loans in collections. The national Auto/Retail debt delinquency rate was 4%.
The amount of debt and debt in collections vary by state. For example, in Alaska, 17% have any kind of debt in collections and the median debt in collections is $1868. Medical debt is common and 4% have that in collections. The median medical debt in collections is $456.
Avoiding collections isn’t always possible. A sudden loss of employment, death in the family, or sickness can lead to financial hardship. Fortunately, there are many ways to deal with debt including an aggressive payment plan, debt consolidation loan, or a negotiated settlement.
