DOJ Probes Credit Score Giant Fair Isaac

The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into Fair Isaac, the financial company whose credit scores underlie nearly all US consumer credit decisions, according to information obtained by POLITICO.

The probe follows years of complaints from rivals about Fair Isaac’s dominance, and comes amid efforts by Congress and financial regulators to inject more competition into the credit score market. Fair Isaac’s FICO scores are a measure of risk that banks and credit card companies use to make lending decisions, and are used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine creditworthiness of mortgage applicants.

The exact scope of the DOJ’s antitrust investigation isn’t yet known. The agency recently sent letters to Fair Issac and others in the consumer credit industry asking them to preserve documents, according to a person knowledgeable about the case who was not authorized to speak about it. Such hold-letters are the first step in an investigation.

Fair Isaac, also known as FICO, confirmed the existence of the probe Sunday, saying it focuses on “potential exclusionary conduct.”

“FICO intends to fully cooperate with the Department of Justice and looks forward to a constructive dialogue about the state of competition in our industry,” the company said in a statement. “FICO is confident the Department will conclude that it has not engaged in any exclusionary conduct.”

Full Content: Politico, PR Newswire

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