"It’s what they didn’t say in the grade-school video that’s interesting. Like Coca Cola, their black box formula, which they refer to by their scientific-sounding “algorithms,” contains what no one outside of their tight cadre knows. We can’t tell you, they say, to insure no one games the system. Uh-huh.
We’ve heard stories, and who hasn’t, that their “algorithms” include down rating you for your buying history that they just might not approve of, or spending “habits” they can aggregate like an accusatory prosecutor. Remember, anything they can down-rate you for means more money for their clients, the banks who charge more can be more profitable, with interest rates for credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, and the list goes on. [...]
The real surprise is that the FICOs of the world have been extremely successful in selling their blackbox scores to every private company, every money-related entity, every government bureaucracy. Everyone. They've convinced prospective employers that you may be a bad person unless your FICO is XXX. Pretty soon, even God will demand your FICO score at the Gates, you loser."
- Jason, on How FICO credit scores work
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