Experian, FICO and Finicity today announced a new credit score, called the UltraFICO score, as part of a bid to ensure that creditworthiness is better reflected through credit scoring. The UltraFICO score draws on consumer-contributed data — such as information from checking and savings accounts — that reflects responsible financial management. The score will launch in early 2019 as a pilot.
Consumers opt-in to submit data for an UltraFICO score and grant permission to access information from bank statements on account duration, activity frequency and evidence of saving. Finicity software electronically reads this data, which, combined with consumer credit data contributed by Experian, forms the basis of the new score.
The new score could “improve credit access for the majority of Americans and is particularly relevant for those who fall in the grey area in terms of credit scores (scores in the upper 500s to lower 600s) or fall just below a lender’s score cut-off,” the companies said. “Consumers who are relatively new to credit with limited history or those with previous financial distress that are getting back on their feet stand to benefit the most.”
