Fair Isaac
Encyclopedia
Fair Isaac Corporation is a public company that provides analytics
and decision making
services—including credit scoring
—intended to help financial services
companies make complex, high-volume decisions.
company, FICO was founded in 1956 as Fair, Isaac and Company by engineer Bill Fair
and mathematician Earl Isaac
. FICO was first headquartered in San Rafael, CA, United States
.
Selling its first credit scoring system two years after the company's creation, sales of similar systems soon followed. In 1987 FICO went public
. That year also saw the introduction of the first general-purpose FICO score when BEACON debuted at Equifax
.
Although renamed Fair Isaac Corporation in 2003, the company is popularly known as FICO and brands its products under that name. In 2004, FICO relocated its headquarters to Minneapolis, Minnesota
.
United States
and has offices in Asia Pacific, Australia
, Brazil
, Canada
, China
, India
, Korea
, Malaysia, Singapore
, Spain
, United Kingdom
, and the USA. Its main offices are located in Minneapolis, MN, San Rafael, CA, and San Diego, CA.
in the United States
and Canada
: Equifax
; Experian
; TransUnion
; PRBC
.
Analytics
Analytics is the application of computer technology, operational research, and statistics to solve problems in business and industry. Analytics is carried out within an information system: while, in the past, statistics and mathematics could be studied without computers and software, analytics has...
and decision making
Decision making
Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
services—including credit scoring
Credit score
A credit score is a numerical expression based on a statistical analysis of a person's credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of that person...
—intended to help financial services
Financial services
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...
companies make complex, high-volume decisions.
History
A pioneer credit scoreCredit score
A credit score is a numerical expression based on a statistical analysis of a person's credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of that person...
company, FICO was founded in 1956 as Fair, Isaac and Company by engineer Bill Fair
Bill Fair
Bill Fair was one of the co-founders of the company Fair Isaac Corporation. He and his friend Earl Isaac founded Fair Isaac Corporation in the year 1956....
and mathematician Earl Isaac
Earl Isaac
Earl Judson Isaac , along with friend Bill Fair, set up the company Fair Isaac in a small studio apartment on Lincoln Ave. in San Rafael, California in the year 1956. He was born in Buffalo, NY and died in 1983 in Novato, California...
. FICO was first headquartered in San Rafael, CA, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Selling its first credit scoring system two years after the company's creation, sales of similar systems soon followed. In 1987 FICO went public
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
. That year also saw the introduction of the first general-purpose FICO score when BEACON debuted at Equifax
Equifax
Equifax Inc. is a consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, considered one of the three largest American credit agencies along with Experian and TransUnion. Founded in 1899, Equifax is the oldest of the three agencies and gathers and maintains information on over 400 million credit...
.
Although renamed Fair Isaac Corporation in 2003, the company is popularly known as FICO and brands its products under that name. In 2004, FICO relocated its headquarters to Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
.
Location
FICO has its headquarters in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and has offices in Asia Pacific, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, Malaysia, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and the USA. Its main offices are located in Minneapolis, MN, San Rafael, CA, and San Diego, CA.
FICO score
A measure of credit risk, FICO scores are available through all of the major consumer reporting agenciesCredit bureau
A credit bureau , or credit reference agency is a company that collects information from various sources and provides consumer credit information on individual consumers for a variety of uses. It is an organization providing information on individuals' borrowing and bill paying habits...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
: Equifax
Equifax
Equifax Inc. is a consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, considered one of the three largest American credit agencies along with Experian and TransUnion. Founded in 1899, Equifax is the oldest of the three agencies and gathers and maintains information on over 400 million credit...
; Experian
Experian
Experian plc, formerly known as CCN Systems, is a global credit information group with operations in 36 countries. The company employs 15,500 people with corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and operational headquarters in Nottingham, England and Costa Mesa, California, US...
; TransUnion
TransUnion
TransUnion is the third largest credit bureau in the United States, which offers credit-related information to potential creditors. Like major competitors Equifax and Experian, TransUnion markets credit reports directly to consumers.- History :...
; PRBC
Prbc
PRBC is a consumer credit reporting agency, more commonly referred to as a credit bureau in the United States. It is similar to the other four U.S. credit bureaus in that it is an FCRA compliant national data repository. However, PRBC differs in a few distinct ways...
.