Program improves transparency by enabling financial institutions to provide customers with free access to the actual FICO® Score used by lenders for credit decisions and risk management
Mumbai, INDIA — February 5, 2018
· The FICO® Score Open Access program now reaches more than 250 million consumer accounts, providing free access to the actual FICO® Scores used by lenders to manage accounts
· Eight of the top 10 credit card issuers participate in the Open Access program
· More than 2.5 billion FICO® Scores are available to consumers each year through the program, increasing credit score transparency and driving financial health
Analytics software firm FICO (NYSE: FICO) today announced that more than 250 million consumer credit and loan accounts have free access to the actual FICO® Scores used by lenders to manage those accounts through its FICO® Score Open Access program. More than 100 financial institutions participate in the FICO® Score Open Access program. Also, eight of the top 10 credit card issuers participate in the Open Access program.
Credit card issuers are the largest users of credit scores and these eight lenders are sharing the actual FICO Scores they acquire for consumer risk management decisions. The FICO® Score Open Access program is designed such that the score the customer sees exactly matches a score version the lender uses within their risk management decisions.
With the FICO® Score Open Access program, U.S. financial institutions of all sizes are helping customers by providing increased transparency and more financial education. Participants range from the country's largest banks and lenders to start ups, credit card issuers, mortgage servicers, auto lenders, and student loan providers. Dozens of credit unions including Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union, SRP Federal Credit Union, and PenFed Credit Union are also participating in the program. FICO® Score Open Access provides consumers with regularly updated FICO® Scores as well as the most important factors affecting the score. Participating institutions deliver the scores to consumers via a variety of channels, including online banking websites, mobile applications and paper statements.
“The FICO Score Open Access program offers unprecedented transparency, empowering millions of consumers to see the exact FICO® Scores used by their lenders for credit decisions,” said Marie Morel-Seytoux, vice president, Scores, at FICO. “Being able to easily access credit scores for free as well as the factors that affect them are critical in a customer’s financial journey.”
In addition, Wells Fargo, Navy Federal Credit Union, Commerce Bancshares, Inc., Ollo Card Services, Farm Bureau Bank, Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union, SRP Federal Credit Union, and PenFed Credit Union are sharing FICO Score 9, the newest version of the FICO® Score, with customers for free. Hundreds of lenders are using FICO® Score 9 which enhances the treatment of unpaid medical collections, resulting in these collections having a smaller impact on the FICO® Score. Now customers can better understand the ways in which events like medical collections impact their scores.
Through its myFICO® service and the FICO® Score Open Access program, FICO helps millions of American consumers understand their credit health. Check out the list of the institutions that provide free FICO® Scores through the FICO® Score Open Access program. Gain more information about the FICO® Score Open Access program here.
The FICO® Score is the standard measure of U.S. consumer credit risk, and used in more than 90 percent of consumer lending decisions in the U.S. and in more than 25 countries on 5 continents. More than 10 billion FICO® Scores are purchased in the United States each year by lenders for their risk management decisions.
About FICO
FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 180 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time. Learn more at http://www.fico.com.
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