Risk-based Pricing - Criticism

Criticism

The main criticism among mainstream consumers has been that risk-based pricing can make 'shopping' for the best interest rates much more difficult. It is almost impossible to tell at first glance if one can be qualified to get an advertised rate or exactly what interest rate they qualify for at all. Consumer-rights advocates also believe that risk-based pricing in the extreme, especially in the form of predatory lending, hurts financially disadvantaged and vulnerable consumers by cutting them off from reasonably affordable capital and exposing them unwittingly to soaring interest rates and unsustainable financing schemes that erode equity and may lead to default. Risk-based pricing can be manipulated to wield deceptive marketing practices, such as the bait and switch. The fairness of similar lending practices within the mortgage industry is being investigated by the United States Congress. Some supporters of risk based pricing have suggested that it should be accompanied by heightened disclosure and transparency requirements and standardization of loan terms to facilitate comparison shopping and ameliorate these problems.