Careful Who You ‘Like’: Lenders Could Deny Loans Based on Facebook Friends

‘Now, more than ever, it may pay to be wary of accepting just any old friend request online. Facebook recently filed a patent stating that a person can be denied a loan based on the credit history of contacts online.

Flowers float in the sea after they were thrown into the Mediterranean in honor of the migrants lost making the perilous journey across the sea, on April 28, 2015 in Nice, southeastern France

If you’ve been thinking of cleaning up your Facebook friends and getting rid of those random online connections, now may be the right time to do so, as it turns out your contacts could cost you that loan you need.

It’s no secret that companies rake in profits by collecting and selling the personal data of their users, but it’s hard not to raise your eyebrows at this one. The patent in question, ostensibly designed to prevent spam, and purchased by Facebook from Friendster along with a bundle of others for $40 million in 2010, allows a user’s potential lenders to examine online friends’ credit ratings to determine whether to grant a loan, the Independent reported. It includes the following text:’

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