There have been rumblings of late that major grantors of credit are looking at alternative methods by which to evaluate the creditworthiness of applicants.

Well, one of those grantors is moving past the “looking at” stage, and marching forward with its plans to expand the criteria they will consider when deciding if they’ll let consumers borrow.
According to a piece over at Fox Business, Ford Motor Credit is preparing to unveil its new approach to the loan approval process as soon as this Friday.

The move is being made to help shore up the sales of Ford vehicles, which have been anemic of late. While sales of new cars in the U.S. are down 2.8% from where they were this time last year, Ford’s numbers are noticeably worse – Ford’s domestic sales are off 4.3% compared to the same time a year ago.

As for just how Ford will be augmenting its criteria, it is believed the company will start looking at very specific pieces of information that it sees as being good indicators of borrower stability. For example, it’s expected that Ford will begin placing a great deal of weight on whether someone has used the same cell phone number for a lengthy period of time. In a joint study conducted with ZestFinance on borrower behavior, Ford learned that “if the person uses the same cell phone number over and over and over, that helps indicate a level of stability. Stability is usually a very positive indicator for someone to continue to pay on any obligation they have.”

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large