A Note on Credit-Worthiness Tests

Banks often have to determine the credit worthiness, i.e. the ability to repay the loan, of their customers ex-ante. According to the theory of imperfect diagnosis, it can be rational not to use an informative diagnosis result, even though it can be acquired without costs. We call this non-contingent behavior: The decision whether to grant a loan or not is independent of the diagnosis result. Hence, it can be rational to grant a loan to a particular applicant, even if the specific diagnosis result is negative.