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    CHECK YOUR FICO® SCORE
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    Rachel Bell

    Rachel Bell

    All posts by Rachel Bell

    Rachel leads the analytic team responsible for client support of FICO’s Global Scoring analytic products & services—including the industry-leading FICO® Scores in the U.S., as well as delivery and implementation support for FICO® Scores internationally. Rachel has more than 15 years experience in developing and delivering scoring solutions for originations, account management, and marketing applications globally.

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    • FICO Introduces FICO Safe Driving Score 2.0 FICO Introduces FICO Safe Driving Score 2.0
      FICO Introduces FICO Safe Driving Score 2.0
      September 04, 2019
      Scoring Solutions

      Earlier this year, my colleague, Can Arkali, shared the results of an analytic validation of the FICO® Safe Driving Score.  Since then, we’ve been working to enhance the prediction of future collisions and this week we are announcing the launch of FICO Safe Driving Scores, version 2.0.  The FICO® Safe Driving Score utilizes driving based telematics data c…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • Australians All Let Us Rejoice: Embracing Positive Credit Data Australians All Let Us Rejoice: Embracing Positive Credit Data
      Australians All Let Us Rejoice: Embracing Positive Credit Data
      March 27, 2014
      Customer Development

      According to a new report from the Australian Retail Credit Association (ARCA), 62% of Australians fully support the country's newly introduced credit reporting system—which, for the first time, will consider positive credit behavior. The favorable reaction by Australians is hardly surprising. The previous negative-only reporting system often punished consumers.…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • Ranking UK Consumers’ Credit Capacity Ranking UK Consumers’ Credit Capacity
      Ranking UK Consumers’ Credit Capacity
      January 08, 2014
      Customer Development

      As the UK economy continues to improve, lenders are increasing lending again — in a survey that FICO will announce next week, 100% of UK risk managers who responded said that lending more to consumers was a priority for 2014, and 27% said it was a top priority. At the same time, lenders are cautious about taking on additional risk. This is what makes the FICO® Credit…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • Making Ability to Pay Compliance Work for You Making Ability to Pay Compliance Work for You
      Making Ability to Pay Compliance Work for You
      August 05, 2013
      Customer Development

      The ability to pay provision continues to be one of the biggest compliance hurdles of the Credit CARD Act. Many lenders have approached this as a purely “check-the-box” task, hoping to comply with minimal impact to existing processes. Instead, is it possible to not only comply, but also gain value in the process? We’ve been working with clients to do just that—in ot…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • FICO® Scores Reflect Slow Economic Recovery FICO® Scores Reflect Slow Economic Recovery
      FICO® Scores Reflect Slow Economic Recovery
      September 18, 2012
      Scoring Solutions

      Our FICO Labs team has taken a fresh look at national distribution of FICO® 8 Scores. With a couple of interesting exceptions, we found that consumer scores are continuing their slow return to a pre-recession pattern.  The first two years of the recession (2008-2009) moved the scores for millions of people into the lowest (300-499) and the highest (800-850) segm…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • More consumers nearing perfect FICO® Scores, but are scores improving? More consumers nearing perfect FICO® Scores, but are scores improving?
      More consumers nearing perfect FICO® Scores, but are scores improving?
      April 30, 2012
      Scoring Solutions

      My colleagues in FICO Labs monitor FICO® Scores and how they move over time. In our most recent review, we continue to see the effects of consumers’ scores moving up AND down. At the high end of the score distribution, the number of consumers in the 800-850 range is at its highest level since October 2008. Some 18.3 percent of consumers have FICO® Scores in this ra…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • Credit Reports ≠ Credit Scores Credit Reports ≠ Credit Scores
      Credit Reports ≠ Credit Scores
      December 19, 2011
      Scoring Solutions

      More than ever, consumers are interested in their credit scores and credit reports. They ask questions when banking, paying bills online and shopping for a loan. This puts pressure on lenders to equip their employees with good answers to such questions. (myFICO.com is one source for those answers.) Unfortunately, this work is made tougher when credible sources get eve…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • Recession causes FICO® Score swings Recession causes FICO® Score swings
      Recession causes FICO® Score swings
      October 28, 2011
      Scoring Solutions

      Last month I posted that the national distribution of FICO® 8 Scores has had two major shifts during the recession. Some readers were puzzled that the observed shifts weren’t significantly larger, in light of the sour US economy. Actually, what appear to be small national shifts are quite dramatic changes, in FICO’s experience. The reality is that, despite all t…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • Credit Counselors Stumped Credit Counselors Stumped
      Credit Counselors Stumped
      September 22, 2011
      Customer Development

      This week, hundreds of credit counseling executives gathered in San Francisco for the annual leadership conference of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. I participated on a panel to address what The New Credit Normal promises for consumers. As I explained, regulators are helping to empower consumers by having creditors include the underlying credit scores…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • FICO® Scores Shift During Recession FICO® Scores Shift During Recession
      FICO® Scores Shift During Recession
      September 19, 2011
      Scoring Solutions

      A comparison of nationwide FICO® Scores from 2005-2011 illustrates that score distribution has remained relatively stable at a national level. However a close look at the numbers suggests that U.S. lenders have experienced two distinct phases of consumer credit risk in the recession thus far. Early in the recession, lenders saw a sizeable increase in the number of…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • 10 Most Confusing Things About Credit Scores 10 Most Confusing Things About Credit Scores
      10 Most Confusing Things About Credit Scores
      July 28, 2011
      Scoring Solutions

      In a recent joint “TweetChat” with Bankrate.com, we fielded hundreds of questions from participants on the specifics of a FICO® Score. Their questions ranged from basic to complex, reminding us that as consumers become more credit savvy, the complexities of the FICO Score can still be confusing even to a student of credit. Here are some of the most popular questions…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
    • More Scoring Myths: Closing Credit Cards More Scoring Myths: Closing Credit Cards
      More Scoring Myths: Closing Credit Cards
      July 05, 2011
      Scoring Solutions

      Recently I blogged about common FICO® Score myths. Here’s another widespread misconception: People believe that their credit scores should improve when a credit card account is closed. Not true. In all likelihood, closing a revolving credit account either will not affect the FICO® Score at all, or it will cause the score to drop slightly. The myth seems to be b…

      Rachel Bell by Rachel Bell
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