Fair Issac Introduces Changes . . .

http://www.fairisaac.com/NR/exeres/5…,frameless.htm

As FICO Score Passes 100 Billion Mark, Fair Isaac Announces Plans to Launch More Powerful FICO Score

Newest model of industry-standard consumer credit risk measure increases predictiveness by 5-15 percent in testing

May 17, 2007 - (San Francisco, California, USA) - Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FIC) today announced from its InterACT 07 conference that U.S. businesses have now used more than 100 billion FICO credit scores to make smart decisions about their customers and prospects. Also today, Fair Isaac announced that its researchers have added key innovations to the Classic FICO credit risk scoring model that will significantly enhance its predictive power, without changing important features such as the score range of 300-850 .

First introduced in 1989, the company’s FICO score has gained widespread acceptance as the industry-standard measure of consumer credit risk, enabling lenders to objectively and fairly extend financial opportunities to millions.

“We are excited to commemorate this exceptional milestone with so many of our clients at InterACT,” said Dr. Mark Greene, CEO of Fair Isaac. “With more than 100 billion FICO scores used, it has clearly proven to be an important, reliable asset to businesses and consumers alike - helping lenders make more informed, objective and fair decisions, and helping consumers achieve the credit opportunities they’ve earned. We look forward to providing even more powerful and predictive Classic FICO scores starting later this year.”

The company plans to begin delivering the new FICO score innovations starting in September. This initiative is part of the company’s periodic refreshment of the Classic FICO scoring model installed at the three national credit reporting agencies. While each FICO score refreshment over the years has resulted in a more predictive tool to help lenders keep pace with the constantly changing dynamics of consumer credit behavior, Fair Isaac expects the next FICO score version to deliver greater performance upgrades than any previous redevelopment.

“We have continuously improved our Classic FICO score since we first introduced it with our credit bureau partners, and we believe this latest research is our best work yet,” said Ron Totaro, vice president of Scoring Solutions for Fair Isaac. “We are confident that this update to the Classic FICO scoring model will provide superior risk performance across the entire spectrum of credit risk. Also, it has been designed to be easy for lenders to adopt the new models without making major operational adjustments.”

Fair Isaac’s development tests indicate that the new Classic FICO score research model increases predictive strength by 5-15 percent, with the largest increases coming in three important consumer segments:
- Originations and new accounts
- Borrowers who pose higher risk, often referred to as subprime borrowers
- Borrowers with thin or young credit bureau files

Lenders will be able to use FICO scores developed from Fair Isaac’s newest research with minimal changes to their own operating systems. To make lender adoption easier and faster, the new research model retains the same scoring range, score reason codes, minimum scoring criteria, inquiry treatment, and related model parameters.

Businesses seeking more information about the new Classic FICO score are welcome to direct inquiries to scoringsolutions@fairisaac.com.

About Fair Isaac
Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FIC) makes decisions smarter. The company’s solutions and technologies for Enterprise Decision Management give businesses the power to automate more processes, and apply more intelligence to every customer interaction. Through increasing the precision, consistency and agility of their decisions, Fair Isaac clients worldwide increase sales, build customer value, cut fraud losses, manage credit risk, reduce operational costs, meet changing compliance demands and enter new markets more profitably. Founded in 1956, Fair Isaac powers hundreds of billions of decisions per year in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, retail, consumer branded goods, healthcare and the public sector. Visit Fair Isaac online at www.fairisaac.com.

Fair Isaac Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Information
Except for historical information contained herein, the statements contained in this press release that relate to Fair Isaac, including statements regarding its FICO® score, and the relationship described herein, and the benefits to be derived from the offering, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including any unforseen technical difficulties related to the implementation, use and functionality of the offering, the risks that customers will not perceive material benefits from the offering, failure of the product to deliver the expected results, the possibility of errors or defects in the offering, regulatory changes applicable to the use of consumer credit and other data, and other risks described from time to time in Fair Isaac’s SEC reports, including its Annual Report for the year ended September 30, 2006, and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2007. Forward-looking statements should be considered with caution. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes or any of these assumptions proves incorrect, Fair Isaac’s results could differ materially from Fair Isaac’s expectations in these statements. Fair Isaac disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Fair Isaac and FICO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation, in the United States and/or in other countries. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

New Authority as to Dates of Last Activity

The Seventh Circuit just issued a short, powerful decision concerning the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s fundamental requirement that “[e]very consumer reporting agency shall, upon request . . . clearly and accurately disclose to the consumer [a]ll information in the consumer’s file at the time of the request.” 15 U.S.C. § 1681g(a)(1). In Gillespie v. Equifax Information Services, L.L.P., No. 06-1952 (May 3, 2007), the court reminded the world that a technically accurate disclosure is not necessarily a clear disclosure — and both accuracy and clarity are required to meet the Act’s requirements. In Gillespie, the plaintiffs requested their credit reports, which, among other things, listed the “date of last activity” on certain collection accounts. Depending on what event triggered the listing in this category, the report could lack clarity as to when delinquency had occurred. Having clarity on this point could be important to the consumer because, under FCRA, a consumer report may not include “accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the report by more than seven years.” 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a)(4). Here’s the Seventh Circuit’s key holding:

We conclude that the consumer reporting agency must do more than simply make an accurate disclosure of the information in the consumer’s credit file. The disclosure must be made in a manner sufficient to allow the consumer to compare the disclosed information from the credit file against the consumer’s personal information in order to allow the consumer to determine the accuracy of the information set forth in her credit file. In writing § 1681g(a)(1), Congress requires disclosure that is both “clearly and accurately” made. An accurate disclosure of unclear information defeats the consumer’s ability to review the credit file, eliminating a consumer protection procedure established by Congress under the FCRA.

New Authority Holds Verbal Disputes Suffice

The dangers of credit reporting to collection agencies

I just read a very interesting opinion by Judge Cleland in the case of Purnell v Arrow Financial, 2007 U.S. Dist Lexis 7630 (Decided Feb 2007).

The collection agency defendant reported a debt that was disputed by the consumer to Equifax over a period of several months. The court held that each of these reportings to Equifax, without the dispute marker, constituted a discrete violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Without boring you with the details, the statute of limitations for an FDCPA action is one year. In this case, however, that statute was renewed every time the collection agency reported the debt without the dispute marker.

Moral of the story to collection agencies - Be careful to report any debt that has a dispute with that dispute marker.