Viewpoints Letter: FICO Models Already Protect Consumers

To the Editor:

In a letter to American Banker published May 26, David I. Peterson suggested that credit inquiries by six auto dealerships on his behalf hurt his credit standing to the point that a month later his application for a credit card was denied.

Mr. Peterson may be interested to learn that the credit bureau scoring models introduced since 1998 by Fair, Isaac and Co. have been engineered to protect consumers from being penalized by inquiries when shopping for auto and mortgage loans. It's possible that Mr. Peterson's credit card company is using scores from competing models or is still accessing scores from older FICO scoring models.

Fair, Isaac is committed to making sure our models reflect changes in consumer behavior over time. We strongly encourage lenders and the credit industry to make sure they are using the most recent versions of these models, if they are using FICO scores.

David Shellenberger
Fair, Isaac and Co.
San Rafael, Calif.