Awarding of Credit Cards: Reactive and Nonreactive Results Compared
Criteria employed by 40 companies in deciding which applicants for credit should receive credit cards were examined in two ways. First 16 consumers equally representing males with and without previous credit, and females with and without previous credit, each requested credit from a random 30 of the companies and selectively omitted one piece of information from half of their credit card applications. Analyses of responses to these unobtrusive requests for credit showed the relative importance of credit references and marital status as criteria. Independently questionnaires mailed to the same companies requested credit officers to rank the same criteria according to importance. There was high agreement among their rankings but, compared to the nonreactive results, credit officers rated income too high and marital status too low.