English majors need not apply

How your major may impact your ability to get a loan, and more of the week's best financial advice

Students.
(Image credit: normaals/iStock)

Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial advice, gathered from around the web:

Cities versus homeowners

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English majors need not apply

"Your college major can affect your ability to get a student or personal loan," said Jillian Berman at MarketWatch.com. Lenders are using criteria such as what you studied and where you went to college to make underwriting decisions. Those experimenting with that data believe it can be a "better predictor of [a borrower's] future income and ability to repay a loan than what's measured by a traditional credit score." While two-thirds of college lenders use only standard financial measures, the practice of looking at students' majors and colleges may soon grow "in an explosive way." Lenders say it could mean lower interest rates for some, but advocacy groups argue it could result in discrimination against students from some colleges — and consequently in racial discrimination as well.

Amazon's real estate deal

Amazon is offering customers as much as $5,000 to use a service that helps prospective homebuyers find realtors, said Conor Dougherty at The New York Times. The retail giant is partnering with the brokerage firm Realogy, which owns Century 21 and Coldwell Banker, to "help its brokers separate the closers from the lookie-loos." Prospective buyers find an agent through Amazon.com/TurnKey. If a buyer ends up closing on a house, Amazon offers credit for home products and services — from $1,000 for a purchase under $400,000 to $5,000 on a $700,000 house. The company sees it as "a way to encourage people to adopt products like Alexa speakers and Ring doorbells and to promote its list of handymen, furniture assemblers, and other home services."