Comments on: The car-loan interest rate lottery

By: j7uy5

j7uy5 — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:05:55 +0000

Perhaps if you use NSCA Mosaic, you can get a negative interest rate. For what it is worth, I used Lynx, a text-only browser, and got an offer for 3.1%. It is not clear how that would figure into a risk-based model at all.

By: c65hsk

c65hsk — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:08:36 +0000

I find 0.3% to 0.6% lower values if I use Konqueror rather than Firefox.

By: levinsontodd

levinsontodd — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:50:51 +0000

In the comments on the consumerist two people claim that which browser one uses is a variable in calculating your interest rate.

From the comments:
“If you model the risk and revenue of applicants, the type of browser shows up as a significant variable. Browsers do predict an account’s performance to some degree, and it will affect the rates you will view. It isn’t a marketing test.”

By: foodist

foodist — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:16:22 +0000

Here in England, I’m getting the opposite.

Chrome gives me:

New Vehicle 3.50% 3.87% 4.97%
Used Vehicle (Dealer) 5.09% 5.39% 6.71%
Refinancing 4.84% 4.84% 4.84%

While IE gives me:

New Vehicle 2.70% 3.07% 3.87%
Used Vehicle (Dealer) 4.09% 4.39% 5.51%
Refinancing 3.94% 3.94% 3.94%

Randomised or clever marketing gimmmick?