Predicting debt by personality

Several companies are talking with us about using personality information to predict who will repay their debt and who will not.

Economics are the most important factor in deciding who is a good risk and who isn't, but when the recession bites, it might be good to know which customers have the personality that will make them prioritise a loan repayment.

The scientific research shows that people who do repay their loans tend to have the following psychological features

  • optimistic
  • of high self esteem
  • not compulsive buyers (ie they have a high degree of self-control)
Data in our Preferences Tool does confirm this. A sample debt-related object in our database such as the help-you-get-control company DebtWise , scores very high on conscientiousness. The DebtWise profile also emphasises trust and self-reliance.
So it does seem that anyone in the business of credit, would be well advised to think about using our Preference Tool to run their online marketing campaigns. The Tool will allow them to exclude those who are likely to default, and target those who are likely to stick to the repayment schedule.