FICO scores rate UNDATED late payments
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Suing Fair Isaac
A CreditFactors subscriber has been asking about disputing the information on the myFICO reports with Fair Isaac, suing Fair Isaac and causes of action. Since often readers ask about litigation regarding Fair Isaac, I thought I’d share my posting:
Give me $100,000 and I’ll sue Fair Isaac and CRAs for all kinds of violations. About $90,000 will go to depositions of Fair Isaac and the CRAs and the rest goes to pay for legal research, filing fees etc. and I’ll pay myself $5/hr for my work on it.
If you want to argue that they produce their own reports, sure, give it a try. But don’t waste your time if you don’t have the money. There is a reason why I’m giving up ...
“"They" is in reference to myFico.”
There is no law preventing you from disputing with them. But I really can’t afford to spend 20 hours on researching the basic issue right now, there’s been quite a bit of litigation and then the changes with the FACT Act. But if anyone is willing to pay for it, I’ll do it. $5/hr + research fees and I’ll post it all for the enjoyment of all who want to read it.
If you’re really into these issues, get a PACER account and subscribe to fastcase.com (24 hours free) and be prepared to spend a few thousand hours reading. Try it and you’ll see what you get out of it.
So that’s my recommendation to all of you who think that there’s a problem with credit reporting and scoring. Plan on spending many thousands of hours on research and filings and at minimum $100,000 on litigation.
As you can see by the whopping $300 in donations I received in May, it won’t be me doing the litigating.
2003 Suit (appealed, Experian filed credit reports on PACER) • Fair Isaac - credit scoring fraudware • 4/07 myFICO missing DLA • Bizarre FICO scores • FICO 08 -- Authorized Users • 2/07 screwed up myFICO reports • FICO scores rate FICTITIOUS late payments • FICO scores rate UNDATED late payments • Incomplete myFICO reports • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Fair Isaac rates UNDATED late payments as if they occurred 1 year ago
Most of my clients’ late payments are OLD. I knew that Fair Isaac rated the undated lates, but on the new myFICO report format they actually tell you that undated lates are rated as if you were late only 1 year ago. I almost find that hard to believe, but that’s what it says on the report and it is the 3rd negative score factor, so it’s rather important.
The screenshot of the myFICO score factor
Please note that Fair Isaac states:
“Keep this in mind: If you ask the credit bureau to report a date for this missed payment, it may lower your FICO score in the short term.”
Sure, that’s true if the late payment occurred more recently than one year ago.
But, considering that SEVEN years of late payments are reported, it is MUCH more likely that the correctly reported late payment will IMPROVE the scores. And most consumers will know whether they had legitimate late payments (over 30 days past due) within the last year.
Fair Isaac deliberately discourages LEGITIMATE consumer disputes.
So, Fair Isaac’s advice SHOULD read:
If you know that you did not have a late payment in the last year, ensure that the credit bureau obtains the date from the creditor or deletes the late payment.
The million dollar questions:
1) HOW does it happen that a late payment is reported on a consumer credit report WITHOUT an associated date?
2) WHY is Fair Isaac rating these UNDATED late payments at all?
3) Why is Fair Isaac rating these UNDATED late payments as if they happened one year ago?
The answer is simple:
To lower consumer credit scores as much as possible.
2003 Suit (appealed, Experian filed credit reports on PACER) • Fair Isaac - credit scoring fraudware • FICO scores rate UNDATED late payments • (0) Comments • Permalink
