Fair Isaac’s development tests indicate that the new FICO score research model increases predictive strength by 5-15 percent, with the largest increases coming in three important consumer segments including Sub-Prime.

Fair Isaac Corporation, issuer of FICO scores used by U.S. businesses to make credit decisions about their customers and prospects have addedwhat the company describes as "key innovations" to the Classic FICO credit risk scoring model that will significantly enhance its predictive power, without changing important features such as the score range of 300-850.

First introduced in 1989, the company’s FICO score has gained widespread acceptance as the industry-standard measure of consumer credit risk.

Fair Isaac’s development tests indicate that the new Classic FICO score research model increases predictive strength by 5-15 percent, with the largest increases coming in three important consumer segments:

- Originations and new accounts
- Borrowers who pose higher risk, often referred to as subprime borrowers
- Borrowers with thin or young credit bureau files
- Lenders will be able to use FICO scores developed from Fair Isaac’s newest research with minimal changes to their own operating systems. To make lender adoption easier and faster, the new research model retains the same scoring range, score reason codes, minimum scoring criteria, inquiry treatment, and related model parameters.

The company plans to begin delivering the new FICO score innovations starting in September. “We are confident that this update to the Classic FICO scoring model will provide superior risk performance across the entire spectrum of credit risk," said Dr. Mark Greene, CEO of Fair Isaac.