Personal Finance and Investing

Fair Issac states that it will appeal the jury verdict.

TransUnion, Experian Defeat FICO Trademark Lawsuit (Update2)

By Andrew M. Harris

Nov. 20 (Bloomberg)—TransUnion LLC and Experian Plc defeated a lawsuit brought by Fair Isaac Corp. claiming that their credit-scoring system infringed FICO trademarks.

Fair Isaac will appeal the federal jury verdict, the Minneapolis-based company said today in a statement. Fair Isaac sued the companies and Equifax Inc. in 2006, alleging they sought to monopolize the credit-scoring market and confused consumers with their VantageScore model.

“We remain confident in the validity of our claims,” FICO Chief Executive Officer Mark Greene said in the statement. Equifax settled the case last year on undisclosed terms.

U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery in Minneapolis earlier this year dismissed Fair Isaac’s breach of contract and false advertising claims against Experian and TransUnion, while sending the trademark claims to trial. FICO is appealing that ruling, too, Greene said.

Chicago-based TransUnion said today the jury decision, which followed a three-week trial in Minneapolis, invalidated a FICO trademark.

“The court’s decision is a victory for the kind of choice, clarity and consistency that both consumers and lenders deserve when it comes to credit scoring,” Jeff Hellinga, president of TransUnion’s U.S. information-services division, said in a statement.

‘Industry Standard’

Developed by Experian, TransUnion and Atlanta-based Equifax—the three primary U.S. credit reporting companies—VantageScore was created to synthesize a single numeric credit score drawing on experience from each company’s data.

Fair Isaac, in its press statement, described its scoring method as “the industry standard” for lenders making credit decisions.

The defendants’ numeric scoring range overlapped with its 300 to 850 scale, FICO had said.

The jury’s verdict rejected that claim, according to a statement issued by Dublin-based Experian. VantageScore’s range of 501 to 990 “is used by four of the top five U.S. financial institutions and eight of the top 10 credit card issuers,” it said.

VantageScore Solutions LLC, which held the intellectual- property rights to the method used by the credit-scoring companies, also was named as a defendant in the suit.

“This decision is a victory for consumers who will continue to benefit from choice and competition in the credit scoring marketplace,” Barrett Burns, the Stamford, Connecticut- based company’s CEO, said in a statement.

The case is Fair Isaac Corp. v. Equifax, 06-CV-4112, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota (Minneapolis).

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew M. Harris in Chicago at .

The OUTRAGEOUS lie:

““This decision is a victory for consumers who will continue to benefit from choice and competition in the credit scoring marketplace,” Barrett Burns, the Stamford, Connecticut- based company’s CEO, said in a statement.”

The ONLY victory for consumer is the PROHIBITION of ALL credit scores.

We THE PEOPLE have to be treated at HUMAN BEINGS again.

I recently requested the address for disputes with Fair Isaac at its myFICO forum.  The posts to the PROOF of their “BUG” were promptly EDITED and DELETED again.  This is still about the FICTITIOUS late payments added by FICO scores.

Here is the censored thread:

What is the address for disputes regarding false data on myFICO reports?

The link they deleted is to my documentation of the “bug” adding late payments NOT reported by Equifax and seriously lowering the FICO scores:

5/4/07 – FICO scores add FICTITIOUS Equifax late payments long after charge-off

For 2.5 years this SERIOUS “bug” has been publicly exposed and documented.  Over 8,000 people read this thread.  Fair Isaac has been fully aware of this “bug” as I personally corresponded with its Barry Paperno.  Incredibly, Fair Isaac did NOT fix this “bug.”

The reason I’m putting “bug” in quotes is because Fair Isaac DELIBERATELY lowers the FICO scores of people with charge-offs.

Fair Isaac also DELIBERATELY rated the Capital One and Target revolving accounts reported without the credit limits.  The lower the scores, the higher the profits for the creditors.  And I suspect that people like Barry Paperno and the thugs in charge of FICO scores are the kind of perverts who get off on causing misery and driving people to kill themselves.

The perverts in charge of America enjoy the destruction of freedom and prosperity.

As FICO scores are required for just about all mortgages, they contributed greatly to the credit crisis.  And NOBODY is doing anything to stop them.  I’m STILL the only person on the planet who gives a damn?

It’s truly incredible that tax payers funded this bizarre litigation over credit scores while NOTHING is done to prohibit all scoring.

We are HUMAN BEINGS and deserve to be treated as such.

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