Google moves into credit scoring? (Or not….)

It appears that in the US, Google is experimenting with an initiative that might be able to help finance lending companies serve you ads based on your credit score when you’re surfing various websites.

Google has been working with a company called Compete using around 2 million volunteers to help it test a scheme where it overlays credit scores (called FICO in the US) onto partner sites and then can match those with good credit scores to the very best rates and those with less good scores to the type of lenders more suitable to their needs.

The initiative came about after Google tracked the search behaviour of volunteers searching for a credit card earlier this year. According to MediaPost, Masha Korsunsky of Google claimed that the company discovered that: “Google’s Content Network can reach 70% of credit card applicants with a high FICO score, 87% of mortgage applicants with a high FICO score, and 90% of the people who visit small business sites who have a high FICO score”.

Google also found some interesting differences in search behaviour based on credit score. Those people with high credit scores were more likely to use generic search terms rather than search by brand name when it came to looking for credit cards. Which is something that financial and credit card marketers might want to bear in mind in future when advertising their products.

Could this really take off and become a core Google offering? Well, at the moment, it’s only a volunteer project and credit scores are fairly rubbish in terms of what they can tell you about somebody. Sure, they can tell you about their lending habits but not too much more. For example, someone who has never borrowed money and is flush with cash might show up as having a bad credit score because they haven’t participated enough in the world of debt.

Just a note; this isn’t as Big Brother as it might first appear, either. Google says it does not see individuals’ credit scores and it doesn’t plan to use credit score related ad targeting for any of its products. It also points out that the ads served to people are based on similarities to others visiting the site rather than anything more targeted.

But an interesting little piece of information, nonetheless, which marketers should be aware of, as in future, cross-referencing data is likely to become even more important. If you want more information about what actually happened during the project, Google helpfully responded to a blog here, where you can read more about it.