What you need to know
- A report suggests that Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherod Brown are pressing for further examination into claims of gender bias of Apple Card.
- It is claimed that they have written to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
- The Senators asked whether supervisory exams had been conducted of Goldman Sachs.
A report suggests that Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherod Brown have written to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, pressing for further examination into claims that the Apple Card is biased to discriminate against women.
According to a report from PaymentsSource:
Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown want the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to examine allegations of bias against women who applied for an Apple credit card underwritten by Goldman Sachs.Warren, a top candidate for her party's presidential nomination, and Brown, the ranking Democrat on the Banking Committee, wrote to Kathy Kraninger, director of the consumer agency, asking for more information about how the agency is monitoring Goldman's lending practices.
The report states that the letter, dated 25 November says:
"Public reports raise questions on whether there is a pattern of sex discrimination in the underwriting of the Apple Card, and underscore the importance of the CFPB adequately monitoring the lending practices of financial institutions, including those like Goldman Sachs, that are new to the consumer lending space"
Apple Card was rocked with controversy earlier this month after claims emerged that the algorithm behind the credit limits it provided was biased against women. Apple founding father Steve Wozniak even weighed in on the debate, saying that he and his wife had both applied, but had been given substantially different credit limits, despite the fact they have no separate assets.
Senator Warren has also previously waded into the debate, saying that if Goldman Sachs couldn't explain its Apple Card algorithm, then it shouldn't be using it. GS has already defended itself from the claims, saying it does not see information like marital status and gender on credit applications, however that hasn't stopped a federal investigation into the matter, or this latest report.
According to the report, the letter asks whether the CFPB has conducted supervisory exams of GS, as well as whether recent structural changes within the agency are at all affecting the policing of new technologies. They have requested a response by December 9.
