NO THRONG TO SELL FICO SCORES

US Banker, May, 2002 by John Hackett

Fair Isaac & Co. is busy marketing the very credit score it fought for years to keep secret, proclaiming it a potential $1 billion business. To have any chance of generating that kind of revenue, though, Fair Isaac needs to persuade banks to sell the FICO score on their websites. So far, it hasn't been very successful.

This despite the fact that participating banks would share in the take, which could range from $12.95 to $75 per consumer.Fair Isaac has been selling the FICO score for more than a year, and only one bank-Citibank-has put a FICO link on its website. Fair Isaac says the main reason it has only one bank partner is that it did not start talking to banks until late last year. There are good reasons, though, to believe banks have other concerns, among them that...