So actually looked into the social credit system a while ago and it turns out a lot of it is myth and it seems to have been largely wound down after some abuse by some of the ?prefectures? where it was trialed and used to punish a few people (it was supposed to reward good behaviour by businesses and institutions apparently) but what remains did strike me as very similar to credit score, although it's maybe slightly more accountable? Maybe?

Anyway both seem dogshit, although a system verifying how organisations actually act (e.g. counter greenwashing and shit with hard evidence) would be cool if anyone could make it work.

759 credit score. Still don't qualify.

Damn, what happened here? I can only feel the warm ground, but I can tell there was a fire.

There are more 'social scores' than just the credit one. The main difference is that in the West it's kept in secret, while China is open about it. Of course, it's also different than American propaganda says.

Arguments can be made both in favor and against such systems or their parts. I think we can all agree that the American one goes far beyond reasonable social utility. The Chinese one too, probably. China may be a lot better than our media tells us, but it's still far from perfect.

You say western but I live in the UK and while credit ratings exist here I have never had a reason to care about them. Never even had a credit card. Only time I borrowed money is for my mortgage.

The Chinese social credit thing is a myth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System

What the fuck is this nonsense?

Nobody likes credit scores but it's at least marginally financial measurements that are used for financial decisions.

It's regressive, but only because our society is regressive. A middle class person who overspends and doesn't pay their bills on time is probably gonna get treated worse than a poor person who needs groceries and fails to pay their grocery bills on time, yes. But it's still financial.

The poor person isn't being stopped from buying a train ticket. They might not have money to do so, but that's a different societal fuck up.

At least compare apples to apples.

Not to say credit scores are fun, but comparing the two is kinda absurd. Credit scores are calculated by private companies and used by banks to determine your eligibility for a loan. Essentially, it's an averaged history of how good you are at repaying debt, and it's used to determine if you will repay future debt. The people who calculate your score have no interest in how it affects you. The social credit system is a government score and has tons of things that can affect it, and there's plenty of opportunity for fudgery to screw you over. There are tons of ways in can negatively affect you. Worst of all, it can be used to deny international flights, and in effect your ability to escape the system. Since this is actually run by the government, it creates an avenue for punishing political dissent and control that just doesn't exist with credit scores.

So I helped a friend buy a car many years ago. It’s gone well. But her last payment. She was 50$ short. She gave me a nice credit surprise because she didn’t want to ask me for 50$ on the last payment. My perfect credit got dinged pretty good.

Two things can be bad at the same time.

The US has both:

The Chinese Social Credit score is where your Facebook and other social media are scoured by HR before you are hired. But if you are rich, your Facebook posts don't matter because your Dad made you an executive the company.

A Credit Score is pure capitalism. You can be a racist asshole and get the best deal from banks because you have money.

China is no different with their Princeling "Fuerdai".