The social network has just bought a patent allowing it to sell your friends lists to banks - which might land you in trouble

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Lads' time: But if your mate's bad at repaying, it might have a negative impact on your financial future

You might be great with your money, but if your Facebook friends aren't, banks might refuse to give you any cash.
The shocking news that online buddies who splash the cash might mark
you out as a dodgy loan risk comes with new technology recently patented by the social network giant.
It offers banks the chance to look at your friends’ profiles to judge if you're likely to pay loans back - or not.
When the banks have access to your profile, they will be able to decide if they want to be your lender based on your FRIENDS’ credit history.

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Social networking: Facebook has bought the patent, but exerts say they may never use it

Mark Zuckerberg's tech behemoth bought patents for just over £26 million, including the right to sell on friends lists to financial providers, according to Quartz.
The patent reads: “When an individual applies for a loan, the lender examines the credit ratings of members of the individual’s social network who are connected to the individual through authorized nodes.
“If the average credit rating of these members is at least a minimum credit score, the lender continues to process the loan application.
“Otherwise, the loan application is rejected.”
The impact of this is not yet known, but it could affect bank, career or student loans.

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Facebook face off: The measures could affect bank, career or student loans

The patent, which has been granted by the US Patent and Trade Office, was bought from gaming network Friendster back in 2010.
But according to expert Adam Epstein: “Major tech companies (Facebook and Google, specifically) secure patents for weird ideas all the time — that doesn’t mean they’ll ever be implemented,”
“Facebook could decide to use just part of the patent, while disregarding the lending portion.
“Or it could just be a superfluous part of the patent bundle Facebook bought from Friendster that was never intended to be used.
“Or the patent could be an asset to be sold on to someone else.”
Facebook have declined to comment on the patent.