Why your Facebook could start affecting your credit score

Looking up loan applicants’ social media activity has become a popular trend among lenders, and major credit rating agencies like Fair Isaac Corp (FICO) are starting to catch on.

Facebook factors like the number of friends an applicant has, the number and time span of jobs they have listed on their timeline and status updates about losing a job help to decide whether they’re approved or denied, and now will likely begin to influence their credit score as well.

“There could come a time where certain social media could be predictive and we’re looking at that, but it isn’t yet,” FICO consumer-credit specialist Anthony Sprauve told the Wall Street Journal.

FICO scores are used in more than 90 percent of all credit worthiness lender decisions.

Twitter and LinkedIn are also used to follow a potential borrower’s tweets about their job, and whether or not the job they have listed on their application matches the one posted on their LinkedIn profile. Lenders also check and see whether the friends and connections of an applicant have paid back their loans.

Some are even using it to communicate with current borrowers about their repayment options and urging them to make payments on loans. Lenddo, a platform that helps potential borrowers build creditworthiness through social media, sends messages about repayment directly to users’ accounts.

Government regulators and privacy advocates like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission have begun examining lenders’ use of social media, with early reports calling it a violation of consumer privacy.

With laws already on the books in some states to keep employers from using social media from judging job candidates and schools from evaluating prospective students, a similar law against the use for approving loans and establishing credit ratings is a possibility.

Via: Daily Caller

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Congress Turns Spotlight to Government Waste

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform highlighted wasteful federal spending on Thursday, holding a hearing that cited numerous examples of the practice, but few successes in eliminating it.

The hearing led with testimony from Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D., Del.) and Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), whoserecent release of the 2013 Wastebook identified over $30 billion in frivolous government spending.

Coburn said the problem of government waste is not caused by a lack of bipartisanship in Washington.

“My take is we get along too well,” he said. “We have presidents that come and go, Congresses who come and go, and we still have government waste. Why is that?”

“The problem isn’t that we don’t know what the problem is,” Coburn said, “it’s that we don’t act on the problem.”

The hearing exposed a lengthy list of examples, including $9 billion in tax breaks and loans to the wealthy that saw farm subsidies going to Ted Turner, Jon Bon Jovi, and former NBA player Scottie Pippen.

Thomas Schatz, the president of Citizens Against Government Waste, testified to the numerous overlap in federal programs. “Analysis is virtually non-existent” for the 47 job training programs across nine agencies, he said, which cost $18 billion in fiscal year 2009.

Thirteen agencies administered 209 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs totaling $3.1 billion in FY 2010, though the United States still lags behind other countries in the STEM field.

Via: WFB:

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Obamacare 2014 – More Losers Than Winners

Covered California’ the state’s Obamacare exchange, has racked up one accomplishment.  Thanks to its policies, there are more uninsured Californians in January 2014 then there were one year ago.

According to media reports, some 430,000 people signed up for health insurance through Covered California during the three month sign up period to be covered January 1.  But over the past year, 1,087,169 Californians in the individual market had their plans canceled due to Obamacare’s new rules.

Nationwide, some 5 million people lost their health insurance.  When President Obama felt the heat, he saw the light and asked the states and insurers to extend the cancelled plans for another year.  California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones had already pressed insurers to extend these plans and immediately endorsed the one-year extension.

These 1.1 million people are mostly healthy and had limited coverage catastrophic plans that they liked.  But for Covered California’s actuarial schemes to work, these people must be forced into the exchange.  So exhibiting the empathy of Stalinist five year planners, Covered California denied the extension.  As a result, came January 1 these people had no coverage.

But even if you assume that all 430,000 enrollees in the new exchange come from this pool (probably an inaccurate assumption), that still leaves 670,000 Californians with cancelled plans.  Some probably found new plans through the private market, but how many simply are doing without insurance because they cannot find or cannot afford another plan?

President Obama received the Politifact “Lie of the Year” award for “If you like your plan, you can keep it.”  But there is an even bigger lie that has been spread by the Administration and its liberal supporters, and that is that there are no losers in Obamacare, only winners.  In fact, there are more losers so far in California than winners, and there is every reason to expect this disparity to grow in 2014.

That’s because Obamacare is essentially a huge redistribution of wealth between income levels and between generations, and in that there are always winners and losers

Via: California Political Review

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[CARTOON] Climate vs Weather

Via: California Political Review

Obama: Bloated Social Welfare Programs Are What Makes America A “Great Country”…

President Obama on Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of former President Lyndon Baines Johnson's "war on poverty" address by arguing government programs on education, healthcare and jobs have had a positive impact on the nation.

"These endeavors didn’t just make us a better country. They reaffirmed that we are a great country," Obama said in a statement. "They lived up to our best hopes as a people who value the dignity and potential of every human being."

Obama credited programs like Social Security, Medicare and the Earned Income Tax Credit with lifting millions of people from poverty and preventing millions more from experiencing economic distress.

But the president also declared that the nation's work to provide a safety net is "far from over," and called on lawmakers to "redouble" efforts on the economy through an expansion of entitlement programs, government initiatives and raising the minimum wage.

"For all that has changed in the 50 years since President Johnson dedicated us to this economic and moral mission, one constant of our character has not: we are one nation and one people, and we rise or fall together," Obama said.

The anniversary of Johnson's speech dovetails with a renewed emphasis from the White House on the president's economic agenda ahead of this month's State of the Union address.

On Tuesday, the president pleaded with Congress to pass legislation that would restore emergency unemployment benefits to 1.3 million people during a speech at the White House. The measure, aided partially after the president personally lobbied swing Republicans in a series of phone calls, passed a crucial test vote in the Senate on Tuesday, although a steep climb remains for final passage.

The White House also announced Wednesday that the president would designate five "Promise Zones" — persistently impoverished communities that the government would help through tax incentives, housing assistance and education grants.

Via: The Hill

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[CARTOON] Jerry Brown’s “Balanced Budget”

Via: California Political Review

Where's the Media Outrage? Virginia Democrat Compares Republicans to Violent Rapists

In an outrageous ad aired on the local Washington D.C. NBC affiliate WRC-4, Virginia Democratic state senate candidate Jennifer Wexton – running to replace newly elected Virginia attorney general Mark Herring – made a shocking comparison between violent rapists that she once tried as a prosecutor to "Tea Party Republicans" in the Virginia legislature. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

After describing women being assaulted and "traumatized again by facing the criminal in court," Wexton made this declaration: "...as a prosecutor I put violent offenders in prison. In the Virginia Senate, I'll fight just as hard against Tea Party Republicans who would take away a woman's health care and her right to choose, even in cases of rape and incest."When will the media seize on this ad and bemoan the lack of civility in politics? Something they delight in doing when conservatives are the offenders.

In fact, when NBC political director Chuck Todd was recently confronted with Democrats' abortion fearmongering during the 2013 Virginia governor's race, he excused the party's increasingly over-the-top rhetoric: "What campaigns aren't about scaring some voters?"

It appears that Ms. Wexton took that to heart.

Here is a transcript of Wexton's campaign ad:

A woman assaulted at night by the reservoir. Another by an intruder who forced his way in through her bedroom window. And for so many, traumatized again by facing the criminal in court.

I'm Jennifer Wexton and as a prosecutor I put violent offenders in prison. In the Virginia Senate, I'll fight just as hard against Tea Party Republicans who would take away a woman's health care and her right to choose, even in cases of rape and incest. On election day, help me stand up for her.

Via: Newsbusters

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Millionaire Obama: I Hate Income Inequality

 Back from his $4 million Hawaii vacation, President Barack Obama seems poised to sound the populist trumpet in an effort to turn the page on 2013’s disastrous Obamacare rollout.

Many pundits are speculating that Obama, seeing the popularity of liberal populists like New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, will use the current debate over unemployment insurance to engage in more divisive rhetoric:

The Obama administration has set the stage for a push that could rekindle cries of class warfare -- calling for renewed long-term unemployment benefits, a minimum wage increase and a campaign against what Democrats call "income inequality."

Ahead of his multi-week, holiday vacation in Hawaii, President Obama pushed Congress to move forward on extending federal unemployment benefits that weren't included in the budget deal Senate Democrats and House Republicans struck to fund the federal government for the next two years. The White House has scheduled an East Room event on Tuesday in which the president will appear with people who lost that insurance.

On Tuesday, that's precisely what Obama did, trotting out unemployed people to push for another boost to unemployment benefits, and citing income inequality as the rationale.

One potential challenge for the President’s prospective populist push is his own family’s affluence. Despite the President’s public lowering of his own salary, the Obamas' tax returns show a family whose incomes would routinely place them in the highest bracket, with lucrative income streams outside of the White House. Last year, however, the Obama family paid an effective tax rate of only 18 percent.

Via: Truth Revolt

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Health Care Law 31% Expect Health Care To Improve Under New Law

Voters continue to give their own health care high marks but remain critical of the overall health care system in this country. For the first time in nearly a year, however, fewer than 50% expect the health care system to get worse under Obamacare.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 34% of Likely U.S. Voters consider the U.S. health care system to be good or excellent. Nearly as many (31%) rate the system as poor. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Positive views of the overall health care system have ranged from 32% to 43% in regular surveys since November 2012, while the system has earned poor marks from 19% to 31% in the same period.

But 81% rate the quality of the health care they personally receive as good or excellent, while just five percent (5%) view that care as poor. That’s consistent with surveying for well over a year.

Thirty-one percent (31%) of voters now think the U.S. health care system is likely to get better under the new national health care law, the highest level of optimism to date. Forty-eight (48%) believe it’s more likely to get worse, but that’s down eight points from 56% a month ago and the least pessimistic finding since February of last year. Thirteen percent (13%) think the health care system will stay about the same.

Last week, though, for the second month in a row, 51% of voters said they expect the quality of health care to worsen under the new law. Most voters also still dislike Obamacare and expect it to increase health care costs.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.Voters continue to give their own health care high marks but remain critical of the overall health care system in this country. For the first time in nearly a year, however, fewer than 50% expect the health care system to get worse under Obamacare.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 34% of Likely U.S. Voters consider the U.S. health care system to be good or excellent. Nearly as many (31%) rate the system as poor. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Positive views of the overall health care system have ranged from 32% to 43% in regular surveys since November 2012, while the system has earned poor marks from 19% to 31% in the same period.

But 81% rate the quality of the health care they personally receive as good or excellent, while just five percent (5%) view that care as poor. That’s consistent with surveying for well over a year.

Thirty-one percent (31%) of voters now think the U.S. health care system is likely to get better under the new national health care law, the highest level of optimism to date. Forty-eight (48%) believe it’s more likely to get worse, but that’s down eight points from 56% a month ago and the least pessimistic finding since February of last year. Thirteen percent (13%) think the health care system will stay about the same.

Last week, though, for the second month in a row, 51% of voters said they expect the quality of health care to worsen under the new law. Most voters also still dislike Obamacare and expect it to increase health care costs.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on January 4, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on January 4, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Via: RASMUSSEN REPORT

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