What Is a Fair Isaac Score?

A Fair Isaac score means a FICO Score. The "FICO" designation stands for "Fair, Isaac and Company," after the company that develops the software for most of the credit bureaus in the United States, as well as worldwide.

Company Description

Fair, Isaac and Company, also abbreviated as FICO, is a company that provides consulting services and enterprise decision management systems to companies in the United States, as well as to 80 countries throughout the world.

History

FICO was founded in 1956. It is named after its founders, engineer Bill Fair and mathematician Earl Isaac.

FICO Score Development

In 1958, FICO began building credit scoring systems, and it started delivering them in 1970. The first credit bureau risk score by FICO was introduced in 1981, and in 1989, Equifax was the first credit bureau to adopt what is now known as the FICO score.

FICO Score Purpose

The FICO score is designed to assess credit risk or a person's level of financial responsibility, running from numbers 300 (bad credit) to 850 (excellent credit). The higher your score, the better your credit and the lower your credit risk.

Today

The FICO score is currently the most popular credit scoring system in the world. In the United States, the three major credit bureaus--Experian, Equifax and TransUnion--use it.

References

• MyFICO.com: About Credit Scores
• Fair, Isaac and Company