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Does Capital One Offer Different Loan Rates Based On Your Browser Software?
from the give-IE-users-the-sucker's-rate dept
Consumerist is pointing to the claims of a guy who noticed that Capital One offered him really different car loan rates, depending on which browser he was using. He was using Firefox, and saw a rate of 3.5%. That was different than a rate promised to him in an email, so he thought perhaps the calculator wasn't working properly in Firefox (since he was using the beta version of Firefox 4). So he opened up Safari... and got a rate of 2.7%. Then he checked chrome: 2.3% and Opera: 3.1%. No word on how much more (and you know it would be more) you'd have to pay if you used IE.
I just tried it myself and saw the same thing. Here's the loan rate page if you'd like to try for yourself. For me, it's 3.5% in Firefox and 2.7% in Chrome. I found an old machine that still has IE... and it's actually showing the same Firefox rate of 3.5%. I also checked it out with Dolphin Browser on my Android phone... and got offered a 2.3% rate. It's kind of strange. A commenter on the Consumerist article suggests it's random -- saying that if you reload, you get different rates, but that doesn't appear to be the case for me. It might be that the initial display is somewhat random however, though that does seem like incredibly misleading advertising from Capital One...
42 Comments | Leave a Comment..
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Reader Comments (rss)
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The random idea fits
So if you don't like the percentage they offer the first time, clear your cashe and try again.
Anyone get below 2%?
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Low low rates
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interesting
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Perhaps...
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Quit Yer Bitchin'
You make it sound like this this a bad thing.
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Iwonder what I would get...
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Clear your cookies (all or just of capital one).
First time I got 2.7%
Second time I got 2.3%
Firefox both times.
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Re: Iwonder what I would get...
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Re: Iwonder what I would get...
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Obviously an A/B Test in the wild.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/B_testing
The different browsers are getting different rates because they're getting identified as different sessions (probably through cookies). I tried it on two different Chrome profiles and got different rates, so its definitely tied to a session, not a general browser agent.
Capital One is obviously trying to figure out if they offer a different rate on this page, whether it will affect the click through rate.
The problem is when people try different browsers and figure out that they can get different rates. The literature on A/B testing tends to discourage using these kinds of tests for prices as it inevitably leads to frustrated consumers feeling like they've been manipulated.
The irony is that this kind of price experimentation happens all the time in the regular market, it just doesn't happen in such obvious parallelism.
Once they collect enough data (e.g. which loan rate leads to a statistically significant higher conversion rate for that page), they'll likely end the test and pick that rate.
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random from 2.35 to 3.9 and several in between.
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Our lobbyists are in contact with lawmakers to fix this problem.
Their goal is to make The Fed loan money at a negative interest rate!
Stay tuned!
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Dirty Hackers.
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Interesting to learn that so many other people are using multiple browsers, though.
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You know that you will never get the rate in the ad
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i see these rates by browser:
IE: 2.3%
Firefox: 2.7%
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Just Scratching the Surface
What really irks me are the "fake" websites that are built on demand when undertaking a product search. Turns out, in many cases, that they do not even have the product.
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Does it really matter??
It's a way for them to judge which marketing program or mailling list generates the most business.
The different promotions for different browsers shouldn't shock anyone. In fact I am shocked it's taken this long for them to get around to doing it. I wouldn't be too shocked if they haven't had different promotions based on operating systems as well.
And by the way for those of you that think your interest rate is somehow based on your ability to repay, that's only a small part of it too. Interest rates are also a way to generate profit, so they will try to get you at as high of a rate as they think you will still take the loan for.
Capital One is probably one of the worste at that game, I consistantly get 1 to 2 points higher from their offers that I get from other Lendors.
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more data
Since it would make more sense to base car insurance rates on location, I wonder if it's doing an IP location lookup and getting different results based on the browser?
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Just used my Windows 7 Phone Edition and wowza...!
Believe it or not, Fedex just dropped off a crate filled with a family of Chinese servants!
Now that's amazing phone service!
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chrome = ie = wget > opera > lynx > firefox
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variable pricing
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Re:
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Re: Obviously an A/B Test in the wild.
Keep in mind though, that it may not be a test per-se. You're right that this happens a lot in the market, but many times it happens with no clear goal attached to it. For example, if you reserve a rental car at Enterprise's website, the quoted price will ALWAYS be randomly selected from a narrow range of prices, no matter what time of the day/year/decade you do it.
Why this is I'll never know. Some businesses just like mixing it up I guess.
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Re: Quit Yer Bitchin'
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BTW, what they are REALLY doing...
Therefore, I suggest that Capital One is using the varying rates as a form of market research to see how many applications they get per rate. That way they can push their rates as high as possible while still being market competitive.
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JavaScript Issue?
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Meh
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Re: The random idea fits
Instead of guessing what's in everyone's wallet, why don't they just ask, "What's in your wallet?"
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Not different browsers...
It's not browsers, it's measuring "conversions" (i.e. which rate gets more "takers") based on the interest rate quoted.... That or their partitioned web front-end and/or content network is totally out of sync and giving different answers.
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Re: Re: The random idea fits
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Re: The random idea fits
Then, when they say, okay well based on your credit we had to add 1.2% to the base quote, simply reply, "Oh well that's nice, because the website also quoted me 2%, so let's apply the premium against that base rate, shall we?"
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Capital One
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Ultimate rate 0%*
* Not everyone will be qualified for a 0% loan, your rate could be higher based on your credit score.
This is how they can get an almost 100% conversion rate. It would work. All they have to do is say, based on your low 900 FICO score, you only qualify for a 6% rate. Only people with FICO sores over 2000 get a 0% rate.
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Re: Low low rates
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Re:
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