Your social media profiles tell a lot about you, which is why many businesses use them when analyzing their prospective customers. For example, did you know that a mortgage lender can glean a wealth of (relevant) information from your social media pages? Here are four types of information lenders can glean from your social media pages and how they can interpret the information:
Topics You Follow
Lenders can use the topics you follow on social media to gauge your financial strength. For example, a person who is constantly looking for short-term loans, low-credit loans, and payday loans is probably in a serious financial problem. The same may be true if you have liked, shared, or followed such pages. Your prospective lender may conclude that you have a high-risk of defaulting on their loan if you are in such serious trouble.
Lifestyle
It's not just the words you search for that lenders look at; they may also scrutinize the things you post or share, which can tell them a lot about your lifestyle. Consider a person who has a series of posts on getting drunk or partying all night. A prospective lender may take that to mean that you are unreliable and financially responsible. It might not be true, but if that is how your pages portray you, then it is how the lenders will view you.
Financial Stress Levels
Some types of words may also signal to a prospective lender that you are financially stressed. Do you always complain that you have no money? That is a sure signal to prospective lenders that you are financially stressed. Or maybe you have a series of posts complaining about money-related issues. Maybe you have complained that missed a concert because of money, have canceled a vacation because of money, or your landlord is harassing you due to late rent.
Consistency
Lastly, lenders may also gauge how consistent you are by looking at different posts on your social media page or across your social media pages. For example, if you complain how your boss is making you work overtime without pay on one page and then say that you are between jobs in another page, then you are viewed as inconsistent and unreliable. In that case, who is to say that you will furnish the lenders with the correct information regarding your job history?
As you can see, your social media pages have a lot to say about your financial life. Even if the deductions aren't all true, the lenders will tend to believe them so you need to be careful about what you post online. Contact a mortgage broker for more information.
