[rahimnathwani]

"It is absolutely stupid that in the US your financial life is dictated by an opaque algorithm"

It's not 'an opaque algorithm'. I'm assuming the US is similar to the UK, in that banks/lenders use credit bureaus for access to data. That data is then fed to the lenders' own systems for processing (to create a score, check against certain criteria etc.).

If banks did not have such reliable access to your credit status and history, they'd be less likely to give you a loan, and offer credit on worse (for the borrower) terms.

[bcg1]

In the US, the main number that everyone is concerned with is the FICO score, and the algorithm is a secret. Most lenders do not generate their own measures of creditworthiness but rather just use FICO

Also even if you don't want to borrow money here is a list of things in the US that are increasingly based off of FICO:

1) car insurance 2) employment 3) wireless phone contracts 4) copper phone lines

I'm sure there are more... but you get the point I hope