Does age matter...if so...how much..?

[Anonymous]

Hello Forum

I've always wondered how much your age matters to lenders. Any input on this topic would be greatly appreciated,

[Anonymous]

You are talking about the biological age of the borrower, right?  (Rather than the age of the oldest account on the report.)

I don't think that lenders ask for one's age (or birthdate) on a loan or credit card application -- likely by federal law.  Age may be a protected category just like race and religion (lenders being forbidden to consider it as part of a decision for approval, interest rate, etc.).  Except that they might ask whether you are at least 21 years of age, or something like that, since the CARD act mentions 21.

RobertEG would know for sure.

Loans and CCs would in this sense be different from the auto insurance industry, which absolutely considers age as a risk factor is setting premiums.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You are talking about the biological age of the borrower, right?  (Rather than the age of the oldest account on the report.)

I don't think that lenders ask for one's age (or birthdate) on a loan or credit card application -- likely by federal law.  Age may be a protected category just like race and religion (lenders being forbidden to consider it as part of a decision for approval, interest rate, etc.).  Except that they might ask whether you are at least 21 years of age, or something like that, since the CARD act mentions 21.

RobertEG would know for sure.

Loans and CCs would in this sense be different from the auto insurance industry, which absolutely considers age as a risk factor is setting premiums.

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Yes I was referring to "biological age" and thanks for your response. I was kind of thinking of it like would you be a lower risk at an older age but as I continue to think about it, that is not necessarily the case all of the time. Thanks!!

[wa3more]

i believe creditguy is right

[RobertEG]

While the Equal Credit Opportunity Act generally includes age as a non-discriminatory category, provided the consumer is of minimum age to contract under state law, there are many specific "clairifications" that make it clear that using age is not per se a prohibited credit determining factor.

First, the CARD Act clearly places restricions on grant of credit to consumers under the age of 21.

Federal laws are read to be consistent with one another, and thus the broad provisons of ECOA are clarified by the CARD Act.

In general, the CARD Act imposes a requirement that consumers aged 18-21 must either have a co-signor aged 21 or above or show their own ability to repay in order to obtain a credit card in their name.

Additionally, ECOA provides that lendors are in compliance with its provisions if their policies are consistent with advisory opinions issued by the Federal Reserve.

To that end, extensive staff opinions of the Fed Reserve are set forth in 12 CFR Regulation B.

Regulation B includes specific provisions permittiing the use of credit scorecards that discriminate on the basis fo age if the scorecards are developed using statistically based information as opposed to purely judgmental scoring systems.

It is thus not a violation of ECOA per se to develop credit scorecards that are based on consumer age as a statistically shown risk factor.

[Anonymous]

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@RobertEG wrote:

While the Equal Credit Opportunity Act generally includes age as a non-discriminatory category, provided the consumer is of minimum age to contract under state law, there are many specific "clairifications" that make it clear that using age is not per se a prohibited credit determining factor.

First, the CARD Act clearly places restricions on grant of credit to consumers under the age of 21.

Federal laws are read to be consistent with one another, and thus the broad provisons of ECOA are clarified by the CARD Act.

In general, the CARD Act imposes a requirement that consumers aged 18-21 must either have a co-signor aged 21 or above or show their own ability to repay in order to obtain a credit card in their name.

Additionally, ECOA provides that lendors are in compliance with its provisions if their policies are consistent with advisory opinions issued by the Federal Reserve.

To that end, extensive staff opinions of the Fed Reserve are set forth in 12 CFR Regulation B.

Regulation B includes specific provisions permittiing the use of credit scorecards that discriminate on the basis fo age if the scorecards are developed using statistically based information as opposed to purely judgmental scoring systems.

It is thus not a violation of ECOA per se to develop credit scorecards that are based on consumer age as a statistically shown risk factor.

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Thank you very much!. This makes it really clear to me now. I appreciate you posting this.