There is no end to creativity when it comes to credit.  There is a new cottage industry driven by people with bad credit, but otherwise able to afford a mortgage.

Daily Herald – Borrowing others’ credit roils housing industry

Only a low credit score stood between Alipio Estruch and a mortgage to buy a $449,000 Spanish-style house in Weston, Fla., a few miles west of Fort Lauderdale.

Instead of spending several years repairing his credit rating, which he said was marred by two forgotten cell phone bills and identity theft, the 37-year-old real estate agent paid $1,800 to an Internet-based company to bump up his score almost overnight.

The cottage industry lies in people ‘renting out’ their good credit to those who need good credit.

Brian Kinney, 44, a retired Army officer in
Glendale, Calif., pulls in more than $2,500 a month by lending out 19
credit card spots on two old Citibank cards with strong payment
histories. Kinney, whose FICO score is above 800 on the scale of 300 to
850, quit his job working at a Farmers Insurance agency and uses the
ICB income to tide him over until he starts his own insurance agency.

The reliance on a single point for a credit score has means of manipulation.  I would supplement that by anecdotal stories of people getting fake employment confirmations for their mortgage broker. 

In the future there is a potential for a market in broad based reputation system pulling information that cannot be compromised.  Such a system would be worth money to borrowers, and lenders.

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