I have a question about a method of analyzing credit scores on a joint application. I'm not sure there is anything wrong with this proposed method of evaluating credit scores, but I want to make sure there isn't fair lending implications I'm not considering.

So the proposed method would be to weigh each borrower's credit score depending on the amount of income each borrower has. For example, if borrower A makes 75% of the total income, Borrower's A credit score will count more.

Any fair lending issues I may be missing with this?

I'm no FL expert by any means, but could this be a situation where Disparate Impact may occur?

How often will a Jane receive a higher rate just because a John makes more money? Especially if Jane could otherwise afford the loan on her own merit.

I would be interested in seeing feedback from the experts - especially if I'm off base.

If they are jointly liable, what would be the advantage, especially if the bank may occationally use a different method for a "great customer"? The Scenarios I've seen (mostly).
1 CB - use it
2 CB's - use the lower
3 CB's use the middle
When there are joint borrowers, 80% of the time it's the low of the 2 middle scores. A few banks average the middle score.

That being said, IMHO, unless it's documented for risk, with information on collectability and loss from data the bank documented and analyzed, an examiner might bubble that up to the next layer, or at least do an analysis of who is negatively impacted. There is a potential (like burkemi mentioned) that the wages are due to race, gender or ethnicity. All things being equal, most surveys reflect White males receiving the higher salary, followed by Black males, White females, with Hispanics and Black females reportedly receiving lower income. (May not hold true in all areas and circumstances, but that's generally what is reported. )

What relationship does this weighted score have with the ability and propensity to pay debt? Who did that study and how accurate of a predictor is it?

RLC, that was too succinct!

Randy - my thoughts were along those lines as well.

Maybe we're too generous. We actually use the highest score of the applicants.