Senator Wyden Says He’s Looking Into Claims of Apple Card Bias

(Bloomberg) -- Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, says he’s looking into the validity of claims of bias against women in applications for the Apple Card.

• “I’m investigating whether these allegations are true,” he wrote on Twitter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Apple Inc. rolled out the credit card in August, but the bank has been defending its underwriting process after social media postings in the past week by a tech entrepreneur and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak complaining about unequal treatment of their wives in getting approved for credit lines.

Key Insights

• Wyden follows the New York Department of Financial Services in looking into the matter. Goldman Sachs says it doesn’t take gender or marital status into account when determining credit worthiness.
• “As companies increasingly rely on algorithms to handle life-changing decisions and outcomes, federal regulators must do their part to stamp out discrimination before it’s written into code,” Wyden wrote Wednesday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sridhar Natarajan in New York at snatarajan15@bloomberg.net;Shahien Nasiripour in New York at snasiripour1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Dan Reichl

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.