Experian Stoppped Selling FICO b/c Contract Dispute (FICO '08 Related?)

Just like I figured, the reason Experian won’t sell you your FICO score anymore is because of a contract dispute with the Fair Issac corporation, and I’m guessing it has to do with the rollout of FICO ’08

USA Today reports:

Steven Wagner, president of consumer information services at Experian, says the firm nixed its partnership with Fair Isaac to sell the scores to consumers because Fair Isaac was “simply unreasonable” in negotiating a separate contract.

Experian announced it wasn’t selling the score anymore on Feb 4. On Feb 5, FICO ’08 came out, which was modified the old FICO system to deal with some of the credit score abuses revealed in the wake of the subprime meltdown. That seems hardly a coinkydink. Perhaps Fair Issac wanted a greater rev share from selling the scores to consumers in order to recoup their costs of developing the new system and Experian balked.

In any event, just makes it clearer than ever that credit bureaus don’t care about consumers, their real customers are lenders.

Consumers lose access to their Experian credit scores [USA Today] (Thanks to caslonbold!)
PREVIOUSLY:
Experian Yanks FICO Score Away From Consumers
6 Ways Your Credit Score Changes Thursday

(Photo: Dplanet)

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