What is a FICO score?
The credit scores generated by the credit bureaus are often referred to as “FICO® scores,” even though each of the three major credit bureaus has its own name for these scores. FICO® stands for Fair Isaac and Company, the company that produces the software used by many credit bureaus to calculate your credit score. These scores range from 250 to 900 – the higher, the better.
A FICO score is a credit score developed by Fair, Isaac & Co. Credit scoring is a method of determining the likelihood that credit users will pay their bills. Fair, Isaac & Co. began its pioneering work with credit scoring in the late 1950s and, since then, scoring has become widely accepted by lenders as a reliable means of credit evaluation. A credit score attempts to condense a borrower’s credit history into a single number. Fair, Isaac & Co. and the credit bureaus do not reveal how these scores are computed. The Federal Trade Commission has ruled this to be acceptable.
