Who is FICO?

Two men Bill Fair (an engineer) and Earl Isaac (a mathematician) got together in 1956 and formed a company called Fair, Issac, and Company (FICO). These men developed a scoring system to rate the creditworthiness of loan applicants.

FICO eventually developed a software designed to reduce the need for expensive human credit analysis.

The software got the attention of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). The appeal was threefold:

• It was fast
• It was inexpensive
• It was a reliable gauge of creditworthiness

   Today almost all credit decisions are based upon credit reports and credit scores. 

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Statistics show:

• Thirteen percent of the population have a FICO of 800 and higher, 

• Forty-five percent are in the 700-799 range,

• Twenty-seven percent have scores that fall between 600 and 699,

• Thirteen percent are in the 500 to 599 category, 

• Two percent have a score under 500.