How the Financial World Lost Its Trust With the People

At some point in history, the financial system stopped being about people and started being about numbers. This shift didn’t happen overnight, but it’s left us with a world where compassion and character mean little, and where algorithms and payment histories define whether someone is “worthy” or not.

Take credit scores, for example. A person can be dishonest, cruel, and utterly lacking in integrity, but if they pay their bills on time and manage their credit "correctly," they are rewarded with a glowing 800 FICO score. On the other hand, imagine someone like Mother Teresa — someone devoting her time, energy, and resources to helping others. If she were late on a few payments while building orphanages and feeding the poor, the system would punish her with a 600 score and deem her “irresponsible.”

How does that make sense?

This is the heart of why so many people have lost trust in the financial world. It’s no longer about who you are; it’s about how well you fit into a formula. Humanity has been replaced with metrics, and character has been erased in favor of cold calculations.

Credit scores are treated as the ultimate judgment of personal responsibility, but they don’t reflect reality. Life happens. People lose jobs, face medical emergencies, care for loved ones, or pour themselves into noble causes that don’t pay well. And yet, none of that context matters. To the system, you’re just another data point: “paid on time” or “missed payment.”

This lack of nuance alienates people. It sends the message that you can be a terrible person as long as you keep the banks happy, but if you’re good-hearted and fall behind for reasons beyond your control, you’re branded as a risk.

It’s no wonder people feel disconnected and distrustful of a system that doesn’t see them as human. The financial world wasn’t built to reward empathy, sacrifice, or morality. It was built to prioritize profit and minimize risk, and that mindset has seeped into every corner of how we measure financial “worthiness.”

What’s worse is that these metrics have real-world consequences. A low credit score can prevent someone from renting an apartment, buying a car, securing a loan, or even landing a job. So instead of focusing on building good character or contributing to society, people are forced to obsess over how to stay in the good graces of an impersonal system.

If we want to restore trust, the solution isn’t just reforming credit scores — it’s about reintroducing humanity into finance altogether. We need systems that recognize people as more than their payment histories, that account for context and compassion, and that stop equating a number with personal worth.

Until then, we’ll remain trapped in a world where someone’s financial “value” says more about their relationship with money than their actual value as a human being. And that’s a system we should all be questioning.

Check out the book here: How Money Became Dangerous

Want to explore how short-term thinking is killing real wealth and what to do instead? Let’s dive into it 1-on-1: www.growwithaustin.com