FICO Scores at Círculo de Crédito Have Helped Millions More Mexicans Get Credit

MEXICO CITY — March 25, 2019 —

An innovative credit risk score from FICO and Círculo de Crédito has been used by lenders to help millions more people get credit in Mexico. FICO and Círculo de Crédito released data today that shows that the FICO® Extended Score has been used 11 million times in lending decisions in the Mexican market since 2016.

Developed by analytics software firm FICO based on data from Mexican credit bureau Círculo de Crédito, the FICO Extended Score analyzes information on a credit applicant’s household credit history, in order to score people with no credit history who might otherwise find it hard to get credit. An estimated 10 million Mexicans lack enough credit history to calculate a standard FICO Score, which makes it harder to get approval for a loan or credit card.

More information:  https://www.fico.com/en/customers/circulo-de-credito

“Financial inclusion is one of our most important initiatives,” said Alexandre Graff, FICO general manager for Latin America and the Caribbean. “Working with Círculo de Crédito’s deep data and our analytic innovations, we have found a way to score millions more people and help them enter the credit mainstream.”

“Through the FICO Extended Score, we have raised the percentage of credit applicants we can score from 45 percent to 95 percent,” said Juan Manuel Palmieri, Chief Lending Officer at Círculo de Crédito. “This allows millions more people to get credit and start building a credit history. Credit is not only important for individuals to live their lives, it also helps develop the economy. At Circulo, we’re happy to be part of expanding credit!”

The fast growth in usage of the FICO Extended Score matches the growing use of the standard FICO® Score in Mexico. The FICO Score was introduced in Mexico by Círculo de Crédito in 2014, and sales have grown by an average of 39 percent each year from 2014 to 2018. To date, Círculo de Crédito has sold 74 million FICO® Scores, which are used by banks, finance companies, retailers and other credit grantors to make lending decisions on credit cards, auto loans, personal loans, purchase financing and mortgages.

About Círculo de Crédito
Círculo de Crédito provides strategic information to empower people and organizations in the key moments of their life. With over 2,600 customers, and presence in México and Perú, Círculo partners with banks, retailers, telcos, government, financial and insurance institutions to help them make the best decisions and benefit their customers through customer data, value-added products such as scores, and customized solutions in México and Perú.

About FICO
FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 190 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time.

FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

Learn more about FICO:
Website: http://www.fico.com/
Blog: http://www.fico.com/blogs/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/3398/
Twitter: @FICO, @FICOLatAmCaribe

Media Contacts:
Greg Jawski for FICO
Email: greg.jawski@porternovelli.com
Phone: +1 212-601-8248