Lending: Modern first names have worse odds

Do first names have an impact on whether someone receives a financing offer from their bank? The comparison portal Verivox has investigated this question. For this purpose, the 50 most common male and female names from over 100,000 installment loan inquiries were examined in an anonymous analysis. The criteria taken into account were average age and income, the availability rate and the average loan amount. Only those inquiries that were requested via Verivox were included. 200 to 2,000 credit requests were included for each first name.

Modern first names reduce the chances

The name Kevin scores the worst. Only 61 percent of men with this first name receive one or more financing offers. For men named Marcel, 65 percent receive an offer. Loan prospects named Nico or Pascal have slightly better chances. 67 percent of men with this first name receive a financing offer. Almost 50 percent of women named Jasmine are granted credit. Applicants whose names are Jessica or Michelle are slightly more likely to receive a loan. The supply rate here is 60 percent.

Men with the name Dirk have a particularly good chance of getting a loan approval. Here only about every tenth financing request ends unsuccessfully. Of all the women surveyed, women named Birgit have the highest odds of receiving a bank offer (81 percent). Of all consumers who submitted a loan request via the Verivox portal, 72 percent received at least one financing offer.

Relationship between age, first name and employment

The question arises as to why the probability of obtaining loan financing correlates with the consumer’s first name? Oliver Maier, Managing Director of Verivox Finanzvergleich GmbH, explained to Verivox that the first name of the interested party is irrelevant for the bank when checking a loan request. Rather, it is the age structure that is responsible for the disparity in the supply quotas. Therefore, names that are common among younger adults around the age of 30 have a lower offer rate. Such first names, which are more likely to be found among 45 to 55 year olds, are therefore more frequently offered financing. As Oliver Maier emphasizes, the criteria of security and the amount of monthly income play an important role for the bank when assessing creditworthiness. Maier cites the fact that young people are more likely to work on a temporary basis and earn less on average than older people whose careers are more advanced.

M. Wieser/editors finanzen.net

Image sources: Bjoern Wylezich / Shutterstock.com, Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock.com

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