Is “piggybacking” legal
Is “piggybacking” legal

HOW TO ESTABLISH TRADELINES FOR MY COMPANY

A few years ago, the creators of the FICO credit scoring system announced that they would stop including authorized users in the latest version of their FICO 08 scoring model which essentially will place an end to “piggybacking”. The monopoly of credit reporting i.e. Transunion, Equifax and Experian did not consider the Equal Credit Opportunity Act also referred to as Regulation B. They later reversed their decision since it would be incompliant with ECOA and here is what experts have to say:

“Fair Isaac, following the recommendation of the FTC counsel, admitted that it would be illegal to ignore authorized user credit histories as a part of the FICO score calculation.”

Steve Cypher, Reporter – www.autocreditexpress.com

 

“Fair Isaac Corp., creator of the well-known FICO credit score, had announced last year it would end the practice…” of piggybacking “…but during Congressional testimony Tuesday, acknowledged it had changed its mind”

Jeremy M. Simon, Staff Reporter – www.credit.com

 

“This is possible because creditors generally have followed a practice of furnishing to credit bureaus information about all authorized users, whether or not theauthorized user is a spouse, without indicating which authorized users are spouses and which are not. This practice does not violate Reg. B”

Robert B. Avery, Kenneth P. Brevoort, and Glenn B. Canner – Divisions of Research & Statistics and Monetary Affairs Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C.

 

“After consulting with the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year, Fair Isaac has decided to include consideration of authorized user trade lines present on thecredit report”

Thomas J. Quinn – Vice President of Scoring Solutions, Fair Isaac Corp.