Fair, Isaac and Equifax Mark First Year of Delivering Consumer Credit Empowerment Online

Business Wire, April 12, 2002

Business Editors

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. & ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 12, 2002

After Pioneering Consumer Access, Explanation of FICO Credit Scores,

Partners Expanding Credit Management Tools for Consumers

Fair, Isaac and Company, Incorporated (NYSE:FIC) and Equifax (NYSE:EFX) marked a successful first year of delivering credit empowerment tools directly to U.S. consumers who want more control over their financial futures. When launched in March 2001, their first consumer service, Score Power(TM), gave consumers their first-ever on-demand access to Fair, Isaac's FICO(R) credit score, the most widely used score in lending. Score Power also provides the consumer's Equifax Credit Profile(TM), which is used to calculate the FICO score, and a personalized analysis of the score that includes suggestions for improving and maintaining the score. In the service's first year, consumers purchased more than 1 million Score Power reports at www.equifax.com and www.myfico.com.

"It has long been an objective of Equifax to enlighten, enable and empower consumers, and the more we can demystify credit reports, scores, and other tools lenders use, the better for consumers and lenders," said Thomas F. Chapman, Equifax Chairman and CEO.

Before the Score Power service was launched, Fair, Isaac worked carefully with lenders to ensure that credit scores could be disclosed in a way that would both educate consumers and protect the integrity of the credit evaluation process.

"When we launched Score Power and our Web site www.myfico.com on the same day last year," said Tom Grudnowski, CEO of Fair, Isaac, "our goal was to set the standard for delivering personalized credit information to consumers in a useful and responsible way. We've achieved that goal -- we're clearly satisfying a growing consumer desire for credit management tools while also helping lenders build stronger relationships with customers."

Fair, Isaac recently added to www.myfico.com the industry's first consumer service that shows visitors what interest rates are being offered by mortgage and auto lenders in their state to people with their same FICO score. Consumers also can learn how much money they could save through lower interest rates if they first improve their FICO score.

Positive consumer response

Consumers seek out the Score Power service and FICO scores for a variety of reasons, according to customer research. The most common reasons relate to an impending major purchase -- 60 percent of surveyed customers note that they plan to take out a loan in the near future for a car, home or other substantial investment. Sixty percent also note that they are interested in raising their FICO score.

After using the service, 80 percent of Score Power customers say they have acted to improve their FICO score, including paying more attention to paying bills on time (25 percent). Sixty percent of users say the information they received made them feel more in control of their finances.

Future tools for credit management

ScorePower will soon become an even more empowering tool for consumers with the introduction of the first FICO(R) score simulator for consumers. This interactive feature will help consumers explore "what if" scenarios online and learn how certain habits and behaviors, such as opening a new credit card account, could affect their FICO score over time.

New services to be added later this year include a monitoring service that will alert consumers to changes in their score and credit report; and a three-bureau credit report will be added that will provide a one-stop source for all of a consumer's credit file information. In addition to expanding the list of services available online, both Equifax and Fair, Isaac are broadening the availability of services through increased points of distribution. Today consumers can access myFICO(SM) services through a growing number of lender and financial service-oriented Web destinations, including sites operated by Quicken, AAA Mid-Atlantic, Citibank and Ellie Mae Inc., and access Equifax.com services through MSN.com, Edmunds.com and Bankrate.com.

About Equifax

Equifax, a 103-year-old S&P 500 company, enables and secures global commerce through its information management, marketing services, direct to consumer, commercial and authentication businesses. As a leader in information technology, Equifax serves customers across a wide range of industries including the financial services, retail, healthcare, telecommunications/utilities, brokerage, insurance and government industries. Equifax also enlightens, enables and empowers consumers to manage and protect their financial health with services offered at www.equifax.com. The company ranked in the top five in return on equity among Business Week's Best Performers during 2001. Equifax employs 5,200 in 13 countries and had $1.1 billion in revenue in 2001.

About Fair, Isaac

Fair, Isaac is the preeminent provider of creative analytics that unlock value for people, businesses and industries. The company's predictive modeling, decision analysis, intelligence management and decision engine systems power more than 14 billion decisions a year. Founded in 1956, Fair, Isaac helps thousands of companies in over 60 countries acquire customers more efficiently, increase customer value, reduce risk and credit losses, lower operating expenses and enter new markets more profitably. Most leading banks and credit card issuers rely on Fair, Isaac's analytic solutions, as do insurers, retailers, telecommunications providers and other customer-oriented companies. Through the www.myfico.com Web site, consumers use the company's FICO(R) scores, the standard measure of credit risk, to manage their financial health.