Apple banking partner Goldman Sachs has issued another statement regarding allegations made earlier in the week that some credit decisions for Apple Card have been made in a discriminatory manner on the basis of gender.
In a typed statement, an image of which was shared on Twitter on Monday night with the comment "We hear you #AppleCard," Goldman Sachs retail bank CEO Carey Halio said that the bank would take another look at credit lines for customers who expected higher limits.
"We have not and never will make decisions based on factors like gender," Halio said. "In fact, we do not know your gender or marital status during the Apple Card application process."
The CEO added that Goldman Sachs worked with a third-party to review its credit decisioning process "to guard against unintended biases and outcomes."
If you believe that your credit line does not adequately reflect your credit history because you may be in a similar situation, we want to hear from you. Based on additional information that we may request, we will re-evaluate your credit line.
Over the weekend, app developer David Heinemeier Hansson claimed on social media that his Apple Card credit limit was twenty times that offered to his wife, even though the couple has been married for many years, file joint tax returns, and live in a community property state where all income and assets acquired while married are considered jointly owned.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak also reported that his Apple Card credit limit was ten times that offered to his wife, with the Wozniaks in a similar financial situation where all assets are jointly owned.
In response, the New York State Department of Financial Services announced that it would would examine whether the algorithm used to make the credit limit decisions violates state laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.
In Goldman Sachs' original response to the controversy, the bank maintained that factors like gender are never used in credit decisions and explained how members of a family could receive very different credit decisions.
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Top Rated Comments
* Being married for many years
* Gender
* Filing joint taxes
* Living in a community property state
* Assets, no matter their value—$1,000 or $100 million—regardless of whether they are individually or jointly owned
* Income, be it individual, joint, from social security, a trust fund, or even if it is non-existent. You can be a CEO of a Fortune 10 company or collect cans and bottles for recycling, whether you make $100/year or $100 million/year. Doesn’t matter.
* Whether you rent a run down shack on the wrong side of the tracks or live in a gated community in a $50 million mansion.
Did any of the men who came out about this disclose what they earn vs their wives?
A married couple who are on each other's credit cards as authorized users, and have been married a long time with basically identical credit scores/credit reports, show their income as a combined family. If my wife and I apply for a card, it's likely that we'd get VERY similar credit limits. There's definitely going to be a small difference as the credit pull itself will change things, and it's possible that one spouse has something slightly different than the other -- BUT, there should NEVER be as much of a difference as the original poster claimed of 10x the credit limit.
My wife and are have credit scores within a few points of each other.. I've been as high as 850 before (for years, until I decided to buy a new car and get a few new cards.. It'll be back there soon enough). My wife has hovered around the same score as mine. Mostly her's is different only due to differences in credit pulls and if she's an authorized user or primary user on loans/cards.
When we've applied for new credit from, say, chase, on a new credit card with a huge sign-up bonus of reward points, the credit limits we've been offered have been within a few dollars of each other.
This isn't a rare situation, and it's very likely that GS had some crazy algorithm that was causing issues. Or, they're just sexist. One of the two. LOL
* Credit score
* Stated income
* Debt to (stated) income ratio
* Verified income
* Assets
* Size of credit lines on other revolving accounts
* Almost anything in your credit file, which is probably already reflected in your FICO score but which may be given additional weight, including:
* Late payments, especially if recent
* Number of accounts with balances
* Ratio of revolving balance(s) to credit line(s)—individually and/or in the aggregate
* Existence of a public record, such as judgment, lien or bankruptcy
* Open installment accounts, such as auto loan
* Existence of a mortgage loan
* Length of credit history/age of oldest account
* Recently opened accounts
* Requests for your credit file by other lenders aka inquiries
* etc.
Even if two people have the same credit score and even the same income, the above factors will result in drastically different credit limits being offered for new accounts. One bogus collection can cost you 125 points and get you a $1,000 limit instead of $10k or $20k.
If you want to discuss underwriting criteria, debt capacity, credit limits or rate setting, it would probably be better to reply instead to my post #5 above.