Readers sound off, condemn credit-scoring secrecy
• Bankrate.com

May 2, 2000 -- "Give us our scores!" you say. Bankrate.com readers want to know their credit scores!

Our story on the sudden closure of free Internet access to your credit scores, "Easy Internet credit-score access shut down," hit a very raw nerve.

You want that access back, and a lot of you consider the denial of it an insulting, and potentially costly, situation.

Your scores became available online via E- LOAN in February and Bankrate.com reported the launching of their free service. But the company abruptly ended that access just a few weeks later. We reported the opposition to the free service by Fair, Isaac and Co. Inc., who created and own the copyright for the nationally recognized credit scoring system called FICO. Citing contractual problems, Fair, Isaac essentially closed off the supply of scores to E-LOAN. The company said only credit reporting agencies, their contractual partners, can legally obtain the information

The FICO score is used by major lenders to determine an applicant's credit worthiness. But you, the consumer, are not allowed direct access to your score.

Craig Watts of Fair, Isaac said that the credit scores "were not designed for consumers who have little experience in borrowing money and even less experience in understanding what makes or breaks a lender's decision. They generally don't have much awareness of the policies that need to be in place for credit decisions. Lenders do."

That's what Mr. Watts said. This is what you said:

• "I equate the reasoning of not giving credit scores because consumers may not understand them to 'we tell them only what they need to know.' Imagine only having access to books at a library that you can prove you will fully understand before you read it." -- April 25, 2000
  

• "Fair, Isaac's response is none other than more of the same to keep consumers powerless by withholding information because 'we just aren't capable of understanding it.' " -- April 27, 2000

• "I was one of the 14,000 accounts that received my FICO score. E-LOAN did a sufficient job in explaining credit scoring and should be commended. Because E-LOAN revealed my score through painless and quick procedure, I am better equipped for the purchase of my first home." -- April 19, 2000

• "If someone is going to make a decision whether I can be approved for credit, then I certainly should have the right to insure that the information is correct and find out exactly what is being said about me." -- April 27, 2000

• "Credit reports and ratings should be accessible with simple instructions. Yes, Craig Watts, most of us can read or have the ability to find someone who can draw pictures and talk to us using real small words." -- April 26, 2000

• "This is important information that is mine. How do I know if the lender is quoting me a score that is less than my actual score, thus giving them the ability to make more money through interest than they should?
  "As far as I am concerned, this is banking theft by the banks themselves against the consumer." -- April 25, 2000

• "I worked for 25-plus years at Dun & Bradstreet. They always allowed the subject to see their report, to understand what it meant, how to improve it and why it was important to do that even if they did not want credit. These credit-reporting agencies are basically incompetent and indifferent to the subject of the report. " -- April 25, 2000

• "It doesn't seem appropriate that others can access information about me -- without an explanation -- but I cannot." -- April 25, 2000

• "The comments from Craig Watts of Fair, Isaac are offensive. I find it hard to believe that understanding the score is all that difficult. If the information pertains to me, I have a right to see it. ... . It is preposterous to believe that someone would not want to know and understand the information being reported about them and be able to challenge the inaccuracies." -- April 23, 2000

• "Consumers are put at risk to spend more on interest costs for homes, cars and other loans if they do not know their credit scores and what influences them. How can a consumer negotiate a fair interest rate for a loan that uses their credit scores to price the loan? ... The Fair, Isaac scoring idea is a great way to obtain an objective risk score -- only if the information is correct. The consumer has the best knowledge of their accounts and pay history. There should be full disclosure. It is commonplace abuse of consumers." -- April 19, 2000

-- Compiled by Bankrate.com Assistant Editor Julie G. Bandy