
Apple’s credit card is being investigated for discriminating against women - trymas
https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/11/20958953/apple-credit-card-gender-discrimination-algorithms-black-box-investigation
======
leemuro
It seems like the algorithm is just biased towards actual income of a given
person, and doesn't take marriage into account. If that is the case, is the
program just sexist by proxy, and income inequality is the real issue here?

~~~
anoncake
It's not an issue at least if one partner earns less because they
(voluntarily) work fewer hours for money.

------
notlukesky
From a previous post on same subject:

Every credit card company discriminates. It is the nature of giving credit to
discriminate. A private lender giving someone money is not an entitlement (at
least in most societies). We build models to calculate payback. When those
models work the credit lender stays profitable and afloat. When the model
fails it should fail (assuming no taxpayer bailout). If the model misses out
on profitable creditworthy customers then that creates opportunities for new
entrants to the lending market. In fact there is already lots of competition
in the credit card space and Apple card is one of so many choices available to
be discriminated by. The only way to know if the algorithm works well against
losses is if this card is successful in the next economic downturn.
Conversely, if new entrants are profitable with similar business models to
Apple will we know if the algorithm is too conservative in giving credit.

On a side note, rejecting or limiting credit to delinquent borrowers is
actually doing them a favor due to the power of compounded interest.

Albert Einstein famously said that compound interest is the most powerful
force in the universe. He said, “Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the
world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn't, pays it.”

------
RealStickman
Somebody in the comments brought up a good point: How do we know the card is
not just differentiating based on past earnings of a person? Regardless of
marriage status, since that could basically change at any time.

~~~
drewbug
how would they have access to past earnings?

~~~
internobody
Credit reports of the type TransUnion use contain this data to a limited
degree. How accurate this is, is another question.

------
Zenbit_UX
I don't know who dhh is or if that's even relevant here, but I will say I
thought his comments on Twitter were needlessly inflammatory and designed to
assemble "Twitter warriors" rather than to actually fix the problem or help
his wife.

Calling the card "fucking sexist" doesn't help this situation and it's likely
both he and his wife got credit limits that were far above what they needed.
The whole situation could have been done in a classy way and still lead to a
resolution for his wife.

~~~
flyingfences
DHH is the guy behind Ruby on Rails (a "big name" in the "tech scene"), and
he's known for being somewhat of a character..

