- Looking for some kind of growth wherever they can find it, banks are about to get their wish as Fair Isaac is set to launch a new credit scoring metric which should expand by tens of millions the field of those eligible to get credit.
- The new score will pull payment histories for things like utilities to calculate credit scores for consumers who might otherwise not have one. Other things - like how often someone changes address - will be used to help calculate a score.
- FICO and 10 unnamed credit card issuers have been testing the new score since November, and Fair Isaac intends to roll things out nationwide by year-end. Right now, about 15M of the 53M previously unscorable Americans can be scored using the new system.
- Source: WSJ
- Among those of interest: WFC, C, BAC, JPM, COF, DFS, AXP
- ETFs: XLF, FAS, FAZ, UYG, KRE, VFH, KBE, IYF, IAT, SEF, IYG, FXO, FNCL, KBWB, QABA, FINU, KRU, RWW, KBWR, RYF, FINZ, KRS