IMF Wants to Use “digital footprint of customers’ … online activities” to Assess Creditworthiness

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by Robert Wheeler

For years, researchers have warned of a system in which the government controls every aspect of its citizens’ lives. Every citizen would have to rely entirely on the government to survive in this system. This system has been openly discussed for many years by the “ruling class.” Aka: those who have been allotted social credit (or not) and power based upon their views and opinions

The system has already begun in China and is now spreading globally

In a recent post, “What is Really New In Fintech,” on the IMF blog (International Monetary Fund), authors Arnoud Boot, Peter Hoffmann, Luc Laeven, and Lev Ratnovski suggest “rapid technological change” in the financial industry. Many social media and other online platforms are now creating and accepting payments. This revolutionary change in the banking world could change the face of finance forever. 

As a result of this rapid change, the authors bring up the following questions:

  • What are the transformative aspects of recent financial innovation that can uproot finance as we know it?
  • Which new policy challenges will the transformation of finance bring?

To answer these questions, the authors wrote: 

Recent IMF and ECB staff research distinguishes two areas of financial innovation. One is information: new tools to collect and analyse data on customers, for example for determining creditworthiness. Another is communication: new approaches to customer relationships and the distribution of financial products. We argue that each dimension contains some transformative components.

The authors mention the importance and functionality of “determining creditworthiness.” The method they want to use to do so can be found in the section labeled “New Types Of Information,” where they write (emphasis ours):

The most transformative information innovation is the increase in use of new types of data coming from the digital footprint of customers’ various online activities—mainly for creditworthiness analysis.

Credit scoring using so-called hard information (income, employment time, assets, and debts) is nothing new. Typically, the more data is available, the more accurate is the assessment. But this method has two problems. First, hard information tends to be “procyclical”: it boosts credit expansion in good times but exacerbates contraction during downturns.

The second and most complex problem is that certain kinds of people, like new entrepreneurs, innovators, and many informal workers, might not have enough hard data available. Even a well-paid expatriate moving to the United States can be caught in the conundrum of not getting a credit card for lack of credit record, and not having a credit record for lack of credit cards.

Fintech resolves the dilemma by tapping various nonfinancial data: the type of browser and hardware used to access the internet, the history of online searches, and purchases. Recent research documents that, once powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, these alternative data sources are often superior than traditional credit assessment methods, and can advance financial inclusion, by, for example, enabling more credit to informal workers and households, and firms in rural areas.

The type of browser used could potentially indicate a different ranking for browsers that heavily track users, like Chrome, vs. browsers that emphasize privacy, like Brave.

So what does this all mean for our financial future?

It means the IMF authors suggest the global banking network begin using a history of online searches and purchases to determine “creditworthiness.” In other words, do you read CNN and purchase sports memorabilia? You’re approved! Do you read The Organic Prepper and buy “conspiracy” or “prepping” material? We’re sorry, you can not be approved at this time based on your credit score.

In Brandon Turbeville’s 2019 article Social Media, Universal Basic Income, and Cashless Society: How China’s Social Credit System Is Coming To America he wrote: 

“Unbeknownst to most people, there appears to be a real attempt to create a system in which all citizens are rationed their “wages” digitally each month in place of a paycheck or ability to gain or lose money. This system would see any form of dissent resulting in the cut off of those credits and the ability to work, eat, or even exist in society. It would not only be the end of dissent but of any semblance of real individuality.”

Turbeville outlines a plan to create a Universal Basic Income (UBI). The scheme, tied to a social credit system, will essentially cut off the financial lifeline to anyone who does not entirely tow the establishment line. I encourage you to take a look at the article and see for yourself how this scheme is coming together. For more information, here’s an article that compares UBI to modern feudalism.

With Biden’s new administration that is openly more “global” in its outlook, the IMF has already stated that it will seek to reset its relationship with the United States and that Biden’s “commitment to multilateral institutions and his pledge to re-enter the Paris climate agreement should help the IMF advance its own targets.”

And you thought it was challenging to gain approval before…

The pairing of online history with credit scores is bad enough. Doing so has prevented many otherwise creditworthy citizens from accessing what they need to start businesses, buy homes, rent apartments, or buy cars. Some states have suggested laws that use your search history and social media when being assessed for your worthiness to purchase a firearm, and the Bank of America has made it incredibly clear just this past week that your purchases and financial records are by no means private.

However, pairing both of those with the Universal Basic Income is even worse. We are fast approaching a time where even the slightest difference of opinion from the norm (i.e., the ruling class) can result in a complete freeze out of the “offender” from the entire society.

What do you think?

Should these things be included in a credit assessment? Or is this just another way to control our opinions and free speech? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Robert Wheeler

Robert Wheeler

Robert Wheeler has been quietly researching world events for two decades. After witnessing the global network of NGOs and several 'Revolutions' they engineered in a number of different countries, Wheeler began analyzing current events through these lenses.

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  • It’s already begun. I had ordered some long term storage food from a well known website that has been banned from certain media, and I have now received a new terms of service notice from the credit card company that I used for the purchase. If I do not make the minimum payment on the card, my penalty charge will be $40.00 and my interest rate will be 30% on the balance. If I do not like these new terms of service, I can contact them and they will cancel my credit card. I have always kept my purchases very low, making sure that I already had the money in my credit union before purchasing anything. I have an excellent credit rating and have never been late or carried a balance. (I get panic attacks if I owe money to anyone, so I’m very frugal). So, they want to punish one of their most reliable customers? Also, I cannot use Paypal to send contributions to some independent thinkers as well. It’s past time to go back to using checks and banking at the local credit union. I don’t spend much, but I’ll do what little I can to reduce these large companies client base.
    I am expecting that the credit card companies will stop allowing purchases to vendors that they dislike, and I suspect that that will occur within the next few months.

    • Gnome,
      I had this happen once with a credit card and when I called to dispute, they reversed the changes on my card as they did not wish to lose me at that time. It also happened earlier with one of my husband’s cards, and when we called to argue the changes they refused to budge, so we cancelled that card. We’re down to 2 cards now for purchases, and one in my name (have seen family struggle with cards that were in husband’s name only when the husband died), and would love to cancel those as well at some point.

    • Your new terms and conditions have nothing to do with whom you do business. Fees are always going to increase and the max interest rate is whatever the state in which the cc company is incorporated allows them to charge.

    • “So, they want to punish one of their most reliable customers?”

      yes, for the prosaic reason that they make their money off of interest charges and they don’t make money off of frugal people who pay off their cards.

      don’t worry, when you’re being cancelled for political reasons they’ll tell you.

    • “So, they want to punish one of their most reliable customers?” No, you’re the type of customer that the credit companies don’t want. You don’t run a balance, make payments every month or miss payments, the activities that generate income for the credit card company. You are a non-performing customer.

      The type of customer that the credit card companies want are those who make big purchases they can’t afford, carry a balance and miss a payment or two, or more. If the customer goes bankrupt and “costs the credit card company” the unpaid balance, that’s just part of the cost of doing business. Anyways, because of those loan shark interest rates and high fees, the credit card company has already made their profit from the customer. Shortly afterwards, the credit card companies will be falling over each other trying to get the hapless customer back on the treadmill of regular payments.

      I, too, am a non-performing customer.

      • “Shortly (after the customer goes bankrupt) the credit card companies will be falling over each other trying to get the hapless customer back on the treadmill of regular payments”

        absolutely. when money is printed for free, anything at all they get from the customer is pure gravy.

  • Daisy, in the book 1984 people censored themselves for fear of the State finding out what they thought. That really is what this is all leading up to. “Politically correct” speech was just the beginning. Social media censorship is a continuation of that process as would be watching your internet searches to decide if you are a subversive. Combine this with God and Patriotism being effectively kicked out of the classroom, our media being taken over by leftists, and you end up with the ignorance and lack of moral fiber so prevalent today.

  • This stuff will be coming if they have their way, at least until SHTF.
    So don’t consider it to be a matter of IF it will happen, but of When it will happen.
    So the best advise is to start Prepping for Bartering and working “under the Table”.
    It is way past the right time to be setting up an underground economy among Preppers and even Non Preppers.
    Find a ” hobby” that is useful Now and after SHFT and start doing it, for Barter, Trade or Cash.
    Some people have used their knowledge to teach courses for a fee, to Preppers and Survivalists.
    There are lots of ways to make money so that you do not have to rely on their system or credit.
    (Which is why they hate America and Americans so much; We will find ways around their ” systems” and don’t like to comply with their edicts).

    I call it: Off Grid Economics.
    It should be something that will assist you in leaving the Current, debt based economic system, of 9 to 5 jobs and credit cards, behind.
    You would be how surprisingly relaxing it is to pay cash and not be strapped for funds or dependent on credit all the time.
    Now is the time to start before they fully implement their system.

  • Charge up ALL your Credit Cards Before The Crash & DON’T Pay it back since you won’t have any credit anyway Thanks to the IMF & Don’t worry about the banks they’ll be Just Fine with ALL of our Tax Dollars & Mortgages & Bailouts. Fight the System by BANKRUPTING it. It’s a Demonic System so DESTROY it. Cheers!

  • I have stated before that I don’t have a credit card. My husband does have a debit card to use for any online orders. The less ties you have with the system, then the less control they have over you. I would not have a bank account except that DFAS & VA require bank accounts for our government checks. However, I pull all the cash on payday except what we need to use for ordering online. Living in rural west Texas makes going to the store a chore and not a quick trip. Even the nearest gas station is a 25 miles one way trip. We canceled our Amazon account. We want to do more Mom & Pot shopping or local as in Texas.

    The one thing that I see as a good future in bartering is food and alternative lighting. I read that the electricity is going to skyrocket due to Biden’s EO. Gas is suppose to go the same way. I have a dvd from a man out of Arizona. He uses methane from his animals manure to offset his propane uses. He built a digester with a window and puts in 5 gallons of a manure slurry each day and also pulls 5 gallons out each day. The methane from his digester replaces about 50% of his propane uses. With seed shortages being reported I would say saving seeds for barter may help in the future.

  • My husbands Alzheimers caused him to stop paying credit cards. Lost them all. A blessing in disguise. No cards, no credit, pay everything by debit card or check. I do have paypal. I’ve been buying seeds ect from Ebay.
    Stocking up should have been done before but I know we can’t go back to get it done. To add i buy canned meats, dry fruits, ect at Walmart. I watch for case sales at a local grocery store thats part of a chain. I’m too far from membership discount stores. Our area walmart has a small area for larger quantity buying like 50 packs of hot cocoa mix or gallon cans. I buy an occasional bag of cooked, crumbled, bacon there. Its equal to 5 lb and will keep a long time. I bought one to try it out. Its good. I add it to gravy or add it to hamburgers. Its good in split pea soup. I never liked Vienna sausage but the ones in bbq sauce aren’t bad. Regular ones diced into beans are ok. I’ve even minced them into homemade chili. The seasonings make them an acceptable food form. So I buy the multi packs to save money. Beans and rice are cheap and easy to store. They can be used many ways to extend other things. We like some of the meaty, chunky soups or canned chili served over rice for a fairly quick meal.
    There are a lots of ways to stock up. I have to do a little at a time. I’ve tried new things. Saving money to do more with less since we’re both retired. If i buy celery, instead of just using a few stalks then it spoils, I thin slice the rest and dry it on a screen over the heater. That can be added to soups and stews or powdered and used as a seasoning. Extra carrots are dried thin sliced or grated. Peppers, Onions diced up, green onions or chives sliced all get dried on that screen. Even orange and lemon peels get dried. Many times also powdered to use in cooking or baking or a little dry orange peel is good in my tea. Apple peels dried and powdered or broken up small are good used in baking. Apple peels and cores if mashed up or run through a food processor with a blade, then put them in a cloth to squeeze out the juice, will make good apple cider vinegar if you add some raw cider vingear to start it working in a glass jar.
    I make it a contest with myself and a neighbor lady to keep finding ways to save money. She’s newly widowed so I’ve shared what i’ve been doing and she’s looking for more ways to save. She’s finally paid attention and is putting back food for her and the grandkids she’s raising. A grown son has moved home to help and he’s planning a garden. I always have a garden and save seeds. I’ll be sharing.

  • I agree with the, that we are facing a new way of life. We’re no longer the land of the free. Actually freedom has been an illusion for some time. Covid made an excuse to be more open about the agenda. We either silently hope to be invisible, openly resist, or just give in. All choices will have consequences. 🙁

  • If you think the GOP would stop this, then I have this to say to you –

    LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • “What’s in YOUR wallet!?!?!?!”-Capital One. Not a credit card, for dang sure. Credit is how you end up paying for the same item 3 times, when you couldn’t honestly afford it the first time. Credit is a racket. 570, 670, 770, 870, who cares? Read the fine print on those applications and your monthly statements, the ones in the microprint. Read that mess. Then, figure out what you need to do to get out of debt. Be smart, do yourself a big favor, pay down those cards and cut em up. Suckerworthiness is more like it. Sign here__________. 🙂

  • I’m no one to push my religious beliefs on others, but it is written in the book of Revelation that the mark of the beast will require people to get some sort of identifying mark in their forehead or hand in order to be allowed to buy, sell, or conduct commerce of any kind. I would assume that would include working and drawing a paycheck.
    Regardless of what you personally think about the Bible, Christianity or religion in general, does this sound at all familiar? It would seem that way to me.
    Btw, Revelation also points to a move to a cashless society, a one world government, a universal “religion” of some sort (globalism, the “sacred earth” movement) and a loss of personal freedoms.
    Read the book of Revelation and decide for yourself if it sounds like today’s headlines.
    If that book speaks the truth, mightn’t the REST of the Bible also be true? Just saying.

  • Insurance companies already run credit checks on you to determine the cost. Your credit rating has nothing to do with your driving or house type but that doesn’t stop them.

  • I am 59 years old and short of my childhood college fund savings account, I have never banked at a bank. I have used 2 different credit unions my entire adult life and never understood why anyone would ever use a bank much less one of the big national banks. Don’t be an idiot by handing money to evil people in general and to your enemies specifically.

    I had a credit card in my 20s and learned that lesson quickly. Again, don’t be an idiot. In my opinion, there is no reason to ever borrow money beyond your home. A debit card is just as convenient as a credit card and you aren’t paying a dime in interest.

    I use PayPal when I can to lower the number of people I have to give my debit card number to but I’m careful about the products I use it for.

    I still have a checkbook and I still write checks for products I specifically don’t want any more people knowing what I bought than absolutely necessary.

    Once more people I do business with start taking bitcoin, I will use that for buying some products like ammunition, reloading components, etc. I really don’t expect digital currency to have any privacy in the long term though, the powers that be are already working on that I assure you.

    There will come a day in the near future when none of this is valid and you will grow, hunt, fish and barter for food or you will starve. However, once we reach that point, you will likely have far bigger problems that that to deal with. The bright side is that this will only last for the better part of seven years at most. After which, we ultimately win this war and get to watch our enemies thrown into the lake of fire.

  • I think that we, degenerate uman animals, are happy with the TECH we invent and we just want more of it.

    It’s killing us, slowly, but we just don’t care…

    • Ain’t no we. I quit FB in 2012 (could see what it was), Haven’t used Googly (except inadvertently as they are in to everything), no twitter until the election and then only to be a digital warrior to represent the truth – done w/ that again, don’t download apps, don’t store on the cloud, no nest, no internet connected security cameras. no ring doorbell, no Alexa, no Siri. No, many of us would love to use all of the cool technology available we can observe and think and determine that they will be used against you – and so they are.

      • Plenty of your information, personal or otherwise, is most likely on the cloud. You may not intentionally store on the cloud but companies with whom you do business may do so.
        Paying cash does limit the tracking of your purchases but receipts have numbers and most stores have cameras (retention period of video unknown but it could be in cloud storage). There is good money in selling information – legal or illegal methods.

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