Are FICO® Scores “Artificially Inflated”?

A recent Bloomberg article asserted that “consumer credit scores have been artificially inflated over the past decade,” as credit scores have steadily increased over the past decade of economic expansion. The conclusion cited is that “debtors are riskier than their scores indicate because the metrics don’t account for the robust economy, skewing perception of borrowers’ ability to pay bills on time.” So, are FICO® Scores “artificially inflated”? The simple answer is no.