Can you say DISCRIMINATION? Credit giant TransUnon now has what it calls a “metro score,” where your credit score can now be affected by the neighborhood in which you live, regardless of your own credit history or bill-paying habits.
Uhhh…..gee, I’d thought that the “redlining” lawsuits against insurance companies did away with this obviously discriminatory practice some years ago, but now TransUnion (and probably the other major credit bureaus as well) seem to have picked up the practice. (“Redlining” was an insurance industry practice from the ’70′s and ’80′s where insurance companies would charge higher premiums for the same coverage in certain neighborhoods…you guessed it! Non-white neighborhoods. It is presently illegal as an insurance practice, but evidently not as a credit scoring practice.)
My friend and colleagues Chris Kittrell from Mississippi has blogged on this. Here it is. Worth sharing.