FICO (legal name: Fair Isaac Corporation), originally Fair, Isaac and Company, is a
data analytics
Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. It also entails applying data patterns toward effective decision-making. It ...
company based in
Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...
, focused on
credit scoring
A credit score is a numerical expression based on a level analysis of a person's credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of an individual. A credit score is primarily based on a credit report, information typically sourced from credit ...
services. It was founded by
Bill Fair and
Earl Isaac
Earl Judson Isaac (7 August 1921 – 12 December 1983) founded Fair, Isaac and Company along with friend William R. "Bill" Fair in 1956. They began the operation in a small studio apartment on Lincoln Avenue in San Rafael, California.
Ear ...
in 1956. Its
FICO score
A credit score is a number that provides a comparative estimate of an individual's creditworthiness based on an analysis of their credit report. It is an inexpensive and main alternative to other forms of consumer loan underwriting.
Lenders, s ...
, a measure of consumer credit risk,
has become a fixture of consumer lending in the United States.
In 2013,
lenders purchased more than 10 billion FICO scores and about 30 million American consumers accessed their scores themselves.
The company reported a revenue of $1.29 billion dollars for the fiscal year of 2020.
History
FICO was founded in 1956 as Fair, Isaac and Company by engineer William R. "Bill" Fair and mathematician
Earl Judson Isaac.
The two met while working at the
Stanford Research Institute
SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic ...
in
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the sou ...
.
Selling its first credit scoring system two years after the company's creation,
[About Us FICO]
nbsp;— FICO official Web site FICO pitched its system to fifty American
lenders.
FICO went
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
in 1986 and is traded on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
.
The company debuted its first general-purpose FICO score in 1989.
FICO scores are based on credit reports and "base" FICO scores range from 300 to 850,
while industry-specific scores range from 250 to 900.
Lenders use the scores to gauge a potential borrower's creditworthiness.
Fannie Mae
The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...
and
Freddie Mac
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.[San Rafael, California
San Rafael ( ; Spanish for " St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population ...]
, FICO moved its headquarters to
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, in 2004, a few years after Minnesota resident Thomas Grudnowski took over as CEO. In 2013, it moved its headquarters to San Jose, California, a year after CEO William Lansing joined.
In 2016 it opened an office in Bozeman, Montana which later became its headquarters.
Acquisitions
*DynaMark 1992
*Risk Management Technologies 1997
*Prevision 1997
*Nykamp Consulting Group 2001
*HNC Software 2002
*NAREX 2003
*Diversified Healthcare Services 2003
*Seurat (2003)
*London Bridge Software 2004
*Braun Consulting 2004
*RulesPower 2005
*Dash Optimization 2008
*Entiera 2012
*Adeptra 2012
*CR Software 2012
*Infoglide 2013
*InfoCentricity 2014
*Karmasphere 2014
*TONBELLER AG 2015
*QuadMetrics 2016
*GoOn 2018
*EZMCOM 2019
Operations
FICO is headquartered in
Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...
and it has additional U.S. locations in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
;
Roseville, Minnesota
Roseville is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. It is one of two Twin Cities suburbs that are adjacent to both Saint Paul and Minneapolis (the other is Lauderdale). The land comprising Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, and southern R ...
;
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
;
San Rafael, California
San Rafael ( ; Spanish for " St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population ...
;
Fairfax, Virginia
The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. At the 2010 census the po ...
; and
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous cit ...
.
The company has international locations in
Australia,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
,
Germany,
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
,
Italy,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and Sout ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malay ...
, the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
,
Russia,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bo ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a Country, country in East Asia, at the junction of the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) to the n ...
,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and No ...
.
[
]
FICO score
A measure of credit risk, FICO score
A credit score is a number that provides a comparative estimate of an individual's creditworthiness based on an analysis of their credit report. It is an inexpensive and main alternative to other forms of consumer loan underwriting.
Lenders, s ...
s are available through all of the major consumer reporting agencies in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
: Equifax
Equifax Inc. is an American multinational consumer credit reporting agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and is one of the three largest consumer credit reporting agencies, along with Experian and TransUnion (together known as the "Big Thr ...
, Experian
Experian is an American–Irish multinational data analytics and consumer credit reporting company. Experian collects and aggregates information on over 1 billion people and businesses including 235 million individual U.S. consumers and more ...
, and TransUnion
TransUnion is an American consumer credit reporting agency. TransUnion collects and aggregates information on over one billion individual consumers in over thirty countries including "200 million files profiling nearly every credit-active consum ...
.[Credit Reporting Agencies]
nbsp;— FICO official Web site FICO scores are also offered in other markets, including Mexico
Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Gua ...
and Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world ...
, as well as through the fourth U.S. credit reporting bureau, PRBC.Fair Isaac and PRBC Team Up to Enhance Credit Risk Tools Used by Mortgage Industry
nbsp;— FICO official Web site
References
External links
*
How Does FICO Calculate a Score?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fico
Business intelligence companies
Business software companies
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Data mining and machine learning software
Data visualization software
Financial services companies based in California
Companies based in San Jose, California
Financial technology companies
Multinational companies headquartered in the United States
Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Software companies based in Montana
American companies established in 1956
Business services companies established in 1956
Financial services companies established in 1956
Computer companies established in 1956
Credit scoring
1956 establishments in California
1980s initial public offerings
Software companies of the United States
Bozeman, Montana