Here’s the catch.
On November 8, Heinemeier Hansson, founder of Ruby on Rails, slammed Apple Card for discriminating credit limits offered to his wife and him. He started with by saying, “The @AppleCard is such a fucking sexist program. My wife and I filed joint tax returns, live in a community-property state, and have been married for a long time. Yet Apple’s black box algorithm thinks I deserve 20x the credit limit she does. No appeals work.” He further explained his trails of solving this in a series of tweets.
More than an algorithm, it’s the service.
After some time, he continued tweeting about Apple’s pathetic service citing some immediate measures taken by a company. Apple responding to his wife’s calls has immediately bumped her credit limit to 20times (matching Hansson) with a VIP badge! And when asked for explanations, they’ve replied, “IT’S JUST THE ALGORITHM!” In further instances, they both have subscribed to Apple’s $25/month credit check (associated with TransUnion) and found even surprising results, as his wife’s score is higher than him, yet offered low credit limit. Regarding this, New York’s State Department of Financial Services will be conducting an investigation into Goldman’s credit services. The State Department’s spokesperson, to Reuters, said, “We investigate and determine whether New York law was violated and ensure all consumers are treated equally regardless of sex. Any algorithm that intentionally or not results in discriminatory treatment of women or any other protected class violates New York law.” If it’s revealed to be discriminating, Goldman would be facing stiff penalties from Government soon.
