Experian - Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices (Potential Class Action Lawsuit?)

[veracious]

I don't mean to sound too far out in left field here but,  the underlying issue is the fact that,

Experian is practicing   'unprincipled capitalism'.    Any argument you can make would be countered with

an assertion that their main goal is profit.     The reason they developed their own score to sell to consumers

is because they did not want to pay royalties to FICO.   As usual , the consumer suffers from  the lack of

'Corporate Social Resposibility".   

                                                               IMHO

[chasmith]

Experian participates in a defacto monopoly conferred by the essentially government controlled mortgage industry.  No consumer can obtain a residential mortgage without an Experian FICO score. 

Yes there's a royalty to FICO, but a larger fee from the mortgage lender "pull". 

[veracious]

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@chasmith wrote:

Experian participates in a defacto monopoly conferred by the essentially government controlled mortgage industry.  No consumer can obtain a residential mortgage without an Experian FICO score. 

Yes there's a royalty to FICO, but a larger fee from the mortgage lender "pull". 

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chasmith, we are in agreement.     Soliquy,  best of luck with your endeavor.

[92235]

I don't understand why FICO can't give a score for Experian? There are tons of FAKOs out there that give Experian score what is stopping FICO from scoring an Experian report?

[stizzlerizzle]

Agree with 92235. What prevents FICO from giving us a score?

EX cannot prevent us from pulling our reports. 

EX allows FAKO companies to pull and input the information. 

FICO could pull the reports and input the information.

Is it that FICO wanted to pay EX less, to pull the reports, to maximize their profits?  Some blame has to be placed on FICO.  If they really wanted to provide a score they could find a way.

Quick example that could work (I know this is very inefficient and would reequire an immense amount of work)

We pull our own CR from EX.

Pay FICO a set fee.

Mail CR to FICO.

FICO inputs information (manually or using a scanning device).

Out pops a score.

[veracious]

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@stizzlerizzle wrote:

Agree with 92235. What prevents FICO from giving us a score?

EX cannot prevent us from pulling our reports. 

EX allows FAKO companies to pull and input the information. 

FICO could pull the reports and input the information.

Is it that FICO wanted to pay EX less, to pull the reports, to maximize their profits?  Some blame has to be placed on FICO.  If they really wanted to provide a score they could find a way.

Quick example that could work (I know this is very inefficient and would reequire an immense amount of work)

We pull our own CR from EX.

Pay FICO a set fee.

Mail CR to FICO.

FICO inputs information (manually or using a scanning device).

Out pops a score.

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Yours is a good idea that may work. Then again , maybe there is no workaround.

Apparently, the answer lies within this thread posted on the boards  by  My FICO Barry

   http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Experian-has-stopped-offering/FAQ-for-myFICO-customers-about-Experia...

[chasmith]

Basically the issue is the contractual agreement between Experian and MyFICO.

[stizzlerizzle]

I know that Experian cut off there business with FICO.  It just seems fishy to me that they would not cut off business with any other company that provides FAKO scores.  The only thing that I can think of for that happening is that somewhere along the line the companies could not agree on the money side of the equation. 

It also isn't a huge deal to me because I get mine for free from PSECU.  I'm also sure that FICO would love to provide EX scores for the consumers because they lost out on 1/3 of their business/profit on the consumer end (estimated due to lack of actual knowledge).  I'm just saying that maybe the fault doesn't completely lie with EX.

(Disclaimer: This is speculation)

Maybe FICO didn't want to pay higher than a certain amount to access the CRs, and neither side was willing to come to a suitable outcome.  Therefore the business relationship was terminated.

Back to the original poster, it seems ridiculous to try and force EX to provide access to their scores.  It was stated that consumers have a right to their scores.  Is this correct? I thought it was just that the companies were obligated to supply us with copies of our CRs. 

And in response to lenders deciding to only pull your EX score, it seems ridiculous to me.  Who cares if the consumer cannot see their specific score.  They can see what is on the CR and any inaccurate information can be disputed still. If your information is correct the scores will all be in the same ballpark.  The score isn't going to be lower just because you do not know your score.  My TU score is actually my lowest.  If I were a company I would pull whichever CRA gave me the best deal because it would save me money.

Also everytime a lender has pulled my report they have informed me of the credit score they were given.  Therefore I could use that information to determine if the rate I was quoted was an appropriate rate.  I just don't see how this is an unfair or deceptive practice.

[Anonymous]

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@chasmith wrote:

Experian is one of three CRAs that defacto must be used by any mortgage applicant, because of the secondary market practices.  FICO scores are the defacto standard.  Experian allows FICO score access to mortgage lenders and refuses it to the consumer in an effort to gain market share for Experian's proprietary scoring.  This seems unfair to me, the claim that "There is no one credit score that all financial institutions use"  is absolutely false, only FICO scores are accepted by Fannie, Freddie, and FHA which account for virtually 100% of the mortgage lending market today.

So even if not unfair and deceptive across all consumers, a stronger case can be made on impact to mortgage applicants and potential mortgage applicants.

Sign me up!

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Agreed!

Class actions are notoriously difficult to defend and the vast majority of class action defendants eventually settle.  Would Experian settle?  I'd like to find out.

Sign me up, too! 

[corkyduckfan]

Sign me up!!  To me, it is very suprising that this has not happened already.  It seems kind of like a no brainer to me.  One of the three big bureaus changes the rules right in the middle of the game.  It is kind of like good vs. evil, poor vs. rich etc, etc.  Experian is acting like the people that say, "Hey, living in poverty and having a single parent making minimum wage, substandard education, dangerous neighborhood with drugs has nothing to do with the fact that you might be poor, on welfare or disadvataged.  It seems to me as if some of the credit reporting agencies could care less if people are actually educated about a healthy FICO score and it is dangerous for the public to have access and knowledge to gain positive traction on their score.  I think the big businesses like a certain number of low acheiving FICO scorers to make for nice balanced credit files and they know there are a certain number of poor people that will never even know to check their free or FICO score.  If credit scores didn't make such a huge impact on us and our financial lives and how we live and spend, then and only then could it be argued that Experian could do what they want.  But the reality is that it is one-third of the puzzle to our collective financial potential and rights to a certain extent.  Experian's attitude toward our right to know our FICO's is akin to being in high school and one-third of your teachers just decide on their own to just give you a pass or fail instead of giving you your actual grade.  We don't need to know our real grade, just shup up and be happy with a pass or fail grade and deal with it.  We don't owe you our best effort.  Experian is a pathetic joke that lacks moral terpitude.