Privacy Policy

FICO Privacy Policy

 

In the course of our business operations, we collect, use, and disclose personal data (also referred to as “personal information”) about individuals, including those who become our customers, might be interested in our products, visit our websites, use our mobile applications, or otherwise interact with our business. We also process personal data for other companies. When we process personal data on our own behalf this privacy policy applies. When we process personal data on behalf of another company, that company’s privacy policy applies.   

 

Table of Contents

Our Business

How We Use and Collect Personal Data

Our Disclosure of Personal Data

Your Rights

Exercising Your Rights

How We Protect Your Personal Data

How Long We Keep Your Personal Data

EU-US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield

California Information Sharing Disclosure

Contacting Us

Changes to This Policy

 

Our Business

This section provides a general overview of our business. FICO has two lines of business—Scores and Software.

Scores includes our business-to-business operations through which we license to consumer reporting agencies and other third-party businesses the right to use our analytic models, including those that generate the well-known FICO® Scores. For example, consumer reporting agencies apply our analytic models to consumer report information they assemble and maintain and then calculate and distribute the output FICO Scores to third parties such as lenders. FICO is not a consumer reporting agency and does not calculate and distribute FICO Scores to third parties. When a third-party business uses our analytic models to process personal data such as consumer reports to calculate FICO Scores, we are acting as a service provider and the third party’s privacy policy applies. Scores also includes myFICO, our direct-to-consumer business, which is based in the U.S. and offers free and paid informational and educational content designed for U.S. consumers only. If you are a myFICO customer, we may obtain your credit report or FICO Score from a consumer reporting agency at your direction and on your behalf. This policy applies to our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal data if you are a myFICO customer.

Software consists entirely of business-to-business operations through which we license to third party businesses the rights to use our proprietary software solutions and in some cases provide associated professional services. These software solutions may contain analytic models. Companies use our software solutions for their own business purposes. Some of our solutions are operational: these solutions are used by companies for their resource planning, financial projections, and record-keeping, for example. Other solutions are used by companies to facilitate the processing of personal data of their consumers or other individuals. These include solutions designed to be used by companies for a wide range of commercial purposes, including new customer acquisition, credit and insurance eligibility, account management, customer management and communications, and financial fraud detection and prevention. We sometimes deliver our software solutions to third party businesses for installation locally in their facilities or environment and we sometimes host these software solutions for them in our cloud platform. When a third-party business uses our software solutions to process personal data relating to their consumers or other individuals, we are acting as a service provider, and the third party’s privacy policy applies.

It is our general practice to collect and use only depersonalized data that cannot be reasonably linked to an individual person (i.e., deidentified, anonymized, or aggregated data) when developing, validating, and updating our analytic models and our software solutions. We will not attempt to re-personalize (or reidentify) any such depersonalized data.

How We Use and Collect Personal Data

Context	Types of Data	Primary Purpose for Collection and Use of Data
myFICO account registration and subscription	If you create an online account with myFICO, we collect your name and contact information, including your address, phone number, and email address, and the account password you create. We also collect your Social Security number and date of birth to process your request to obtain a credit report and FICO® Score from a consumer reporting agency. If you subscribe to a paid myFICO plan, we collect your billing address and credit card number. We may also collect information relating to the actions that you perform while logged into your account.	We have a legitimate interest in providing account related functionalities to individuals who create a myFICO account. We also use the information to fulfill our agreement with those who have myFICO accounts to provide them with requested educational and informational content (e.g., to provide them with access to their credit reports and FICO® Scores), to authenticate identity, and to process payments.
FICO Analytic Cloud or FICO Community account registration	If you create an online account with FICO Analytic Cloud or FICO Community, we collect your name and contact information, including email address, and the account password you create.	We have a legitimate interest in providing account related functionalities to individuals who create a FICO Analytic Cloud or FICO Community account. We also use the information to authenticate the identity of those who have an account and to provide them with information they request regarding our products and services.
Business client information	We collect the name and contact information of our clients and their employees with whom we interact.	We have a legitimate interest in contacting our clients and communicating with them concerning normal business administration such as projects, services, and billing. We use this personal data to perform our contract to provide products or services.
Cookies and first-party tracking	We use cookies and other types of tracking technology to improve the performance of our website, remember visitor preferences and order selections, and to analyze website behaviors.	We have a legitimate interest in understanding the use of our websites and to make our website operate efficiently and improve user experience.
Cookies and third-party tracking	We may place tracking technology on our website that collects analytics, records how you interact with our website, or allows us to participate in behavior-based advertising. This means that a third party uses technology (e.g., a cookie) to collect information about your use of our website so that they can report analytics to us or allow us to provide advertising about products and services tailored to your interests. At this time, FICO does not respond to the “do not track” header.	We use this information to provide advertising about our products and services based on the interests of users of our websites. Where required by law, we base the use of third-party cookies upon consent.
Events related information	If you attend a FICO hosted or sponsored event, we may collect information about you such as your name, employer, contact and registration details, sessions attended, and preferences.	We have a legitimate interest in using information that we collect to administer our events. Where required by law, we may ask for your consent if we intend to share your personal information with a third party (e.g., an event sponsor) for their marketing purposes.
Online forums	We may provide online forums, including myFICO forums for those with myFICO accounts and FICO Community forums for those with FICO Analytic Cloud accounts, where individuals can post information or comments. Such information may be publicly available or viewable to other forum members, and may include name, contact information, and the substance of any comments depending upon the forum.	We have a legitimate interest in offering discussion forums to the public and to businesses that use or are interested in using our products or services.
Job applicant information	If you apply for a job with us, we collect information necessary to process your application. Providing this information is required to be considered for employment.	We use information about job applicants to make employment decisions. In some contexts, we are also required by law to collect information about applicants. (If you become an employee of FICO, you will be provided with a separate privacy notice which addresses our use and collection of employee data.)
Feedback/support	If you provide us feedback or contact us for support, we will collect your name and email address, as well as any other content that you send to us, in order to reply.	We have a legitimate interest in receiving and responding to your feedback or issues to make improvements to, and support your use of, our website, products, and services. If you use our chat functionality, you will be interacting with an automated technology and your chat session may be recorded.
Mobile devices	We collect information from your mobile device such as unique identifying information broadcast from your device when visiting our mobile application or when visiting our website.	We have a legitimate interest in identifying unique visitors and in understanding how users interact with our mobile application.
Website interactions	We use technology, including weblogs, to monitor how you interact with our website. This may include collecting information such as your browser type, operating system, Internet Protocol (IP) address, click-activity, referring website, and/or a date/time stamp for visitors.	We have a legitimate interest in providing functionality of the website, understanding how you interact with our website to better improve it, and to detect and prevent fraud.
Marketing	We may collect information from you or from third parties about individuals that may be interested in our products or services. This may include name, email address, job title, and other employment information (e.g., name of employer).	Where required by law, we receive consent before using personal data for marketing.
Visiting our office locations	We may collect information from you if you visit our physical office locations. This may include your name, contact information, employment information, as well as video surveillance.	We have a legitimate interest in understanding who visits our offices for security purposes.

In addition to the purposes and uses described above, we use personal data in the following ways:

1. To identify you when you visit our websites or mobile application.
2. To provide products, services, and subscriptions.
3. To improve our websites, services, and product offerings.
4. To streamline the processing of transactions.
5. To conduct analytics.
6. To communicate with you, such as to respond to and/or follow-up on your requests, inquiries, issues, or feedback.
7. To detect and protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, including violation of our policies and terms and conditions, security incidents, and harm to the rights, property, or safety of our company and our users, employees, or others.
8. To debug, identify, and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality of our websites and mobile applications.
9. To comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, to establish or exercise our rights, and to defend against a legal claim.
10. For internal administrative purposes, as well as to manage our relationships.
11. For such other purposes as you may consent (from time to time).

This policy does not apply to the following:

1. Our collection, use, or disclosure of depersonalized data.
2. Other websites not owned or operated by FICO that are linked on a FICO website. In such situations, the privacy notice of the third-party website applies. FICO is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such third-party websites.
3. Our collection, use, or disclosure of personal data on behalf of a third-party business. In such situations, the privacy notice of the third-party business applies.

 

Our Disclosure of Personal Data

In addition to the sharing described in the previous section, we may disclose your personal information to the following third parties:

A.  Service Providers (vendors, contractors, distributors)

We disclose personal data to our service providers who provide technical, operational, or administrative support.

B.   Affiliates and subsidiaries

We disclose personal data among FICO affiliates and subsidiaries for the purpose of implementing, administering, and managing your business relationship with FICO, to provide the product, service, or other content you requested, to contact you in connection with product or service offerings, or for other legitimate business purposes.

C.  Regulators and law enforcement

We disclose personal data to government agencies, advisors, and other third parties where required and appropriate to comply with applicable laws or protect the rights or property of FICO and its affiliated companies, or its customers. For example, we may disclose personal data to comply with civil, criminal, or regulatory inquiries, investigations, subpoenas, or summons by federal, state, or local authorities. We may also disclose personal data in cooperation with law enforcement agencies concerning conduct or activity that we reasonably and in good faith believe may violate federal, state, or local law.

D.  Corporate acquisitions and divestitures

If another company acquires or plans to acquire, or if we divest or plan to divest to another company, all or part of FICO’s business or assets, we will share personal data with that company, including at the negotiation stage.

E.   Other third parties

We may disclose your personal data to other third parties when necessary and appropriate and in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

 

Your Rights

In some jurisdictions you may have the following rights regarding your personal data.  Please see the Exercising your rights section of this policy for further information on how to submit a rights-related request if applicable to you. Note that we do not discriminate against individuals that exercise statutorily conferred privacy rights.

A.  Right to delete your personal data

You may have a right to request that we delete any personal data about you that we have collected from or about you.

B.   Right to access or correct your personal data

You may have the right to ask us to disclose the categories or specific pieces of personal data that we have collected about you. In certain limited circumstances, you may also request to receive access to your data in a portable, machine-readable format.

You may also have the right to ask us to make corrections to your personal data. If you maintain an online account with us (e.g., an account with myFICO, FICO Analytic Cloud, or FICO Community) or have otherwise registered with our websites or to participate in our forums or receive marketing materials from us, you can usually update your personal data yourself by accessing your account profile. If you are unable to update your information yourself, you may submit a request as described below in the Exercising your rights section of this policy.

C.   Revocation of consent and/or objection to certain processing

You may revoke consent to process your personal data or object to our processing of your personal data, by submitting a request as described below in the Exercising your rights section of this policy.        

D.   Update or opt out 

If you have registered with us to participate in industry discussions and/or receive marketing and industry materials you may update your preferences or unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of FICO email messages, or by submitting a request as described below in the Exercising your rights section of this policy.

E.  Right to file a complaint. 

You may have a right to file a privacy complaint with us and/or with a government agency. You may submit a complaint by contacting us as described below in the Exercising your rights section of this policy.

 

Exercising Your Rights

You can request to exercise your rights described above in the Your rights section, if applicable to you, by taking the following actions. We honor such requests where required to do so by law.

• If you have a current account with FICO (e.g., an  account with myFICO, FICO Analytic Cloud, or FICO Community), you may request to exercise your rights by contacting us through the FICO Trust Center, using the options provided in the Manage your Privacy Preferences section. For your protection when you request deletion, access, or correction, we will expect you to verify your identity by accessing your password-protected account.
• If you do not have a current account with FICO, but you have interacted with FICO online or offline, or otherwise have a privacy concern, you may request to exercise your rights by contacting us through the FICO Trust Center, using the options provided in the Manage your Privacy Preferences section. We will provide the information you request by mail or electronically at your option, and to the extent reasonable and technically feasible we will provide the information in a portable and readily useable format. For your protection when you request deletion, access, or correction, we will expect you to verify your identity.
• If we receive from you a request relating to personal data that we maintain in our capacity as a service provider on behalf of another company, we will deny your request.
• You may designate an authorized agent to make a request to exercise your rights on your behalf, but we will require that (i) you provide the authorized agent written permission to do so; and (ii) you verify your identity directly with us.

If you are unable to submit or resolve your request to exercise your rights through the FICO Trust Center, you may also make your request by contacting as described below in the Contact us section of this policy.

 

How We Protect Your Personal Data

FICO uses reasonable safeguards to protect your personal data, including physical safeguards, such as secure areas in buildings; electronic and technological safeguards, such as passwords and encryption; and procedural safeguards, such as customer authentication procedures designed to help prevent ID theft. We restrict access to your personal data to only those employees who need to know that information to provide products, services, or other content to you.

Some of our websites permit you to create an account. When you do so, you will be prompted to create a password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password, and you are responsible for any access to or use of your account by someone else that has obtained your password, whether or not such access or use has been authorized by you. You should notify us of any unauthorized use of your password or account.

While we use reasonable efforts to protect your personal data from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is fully secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data. In the event we are required to inform you of a breach to your personal data we may notify you electronically, in writing, or by telephone, if permitted to do so by law.

 

How Long We Keep Your Personal Data

Your personal data will be held only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy, unless a longer time period is required or permitted by law.

 

EU-US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield

FICO complies with the EU-U.S. and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal data transferred from the European Union, United Kingdom, and Switzerland to the United States. In light of decisions by courts and regulators in the EU and Switzerland invalidating the Privacy Shield Frameworks (https://www.privacyshield.gov/article?id=EU-U-S-Privacy-Shield-Program-Update), FICO uses Standard Contractual Clauses approved by regulatory authorities in the EU, UK, and Switzerland where required for such transfers and does not rely on Privacy Shield. Nevertheless, we maintain our Privacy Shield certification with the U.S. Department of Commerce and continue to adhere to the Privacy Shield Principles. To learn more about Privacy Shield, and to view our certification, visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/.

If you are an EU, UK, or Swiss individual and believe we have violated our obligations to you under Privacy Shield, you may submit a complaint directly with us through the FICO Trust Center, using the options provided in the Manage your Privacy Preferences section, and we will respond within 45 days. You may also raise your complaint with your Data Protection Authority which may refer your complaint to the U.S. Department of Commerce to work with us on a resolution, at no cost to you. If you still have an unresolved complaint that we have not addressed satisfactorily, you may lodge a complaint with JAMS, which is an international dispute resolution provider, at no cost to you, at https://www.jamsadr.com/file-an-eu-us-privacy-shield-claim. For information about JAMS and its dispute resolution process, you may contact JAMS at https://www.jamsadr.com/eu-us-privacy-shield. If your complaint remains unresolved after the JAMS dispute resolution process, you may, under certain conditions, invoke binding arbitration through Privacy Shield. Additional information on how to submit a complaint or pursue binding arbitration is available on the Privacy Shield website at https://www.privacyshield.gov/article?id=How-to-Submit-a-Complaint. With respect to the Privacy Shield Frameworks, FICO is subject to the regulatory enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

 

California Information Sharing Disclosure

For California residents, California requires that we disclose specific categories of personal data that we collect, and the types of entities with whom we share it. The chart below includes the “sensitive” personal information that we collect under California law, such as Social Security number and credit card number for myFICO customers. The purposes for that collection are described in the first section of this policy. Because we collect different personal data from different people depending on the context and the applicable part of our business, information discussed below may not specifically apply to you. Please also note, in addition to the recipients identified below, we may disclose any of the categories of personal data we collect with government entities or other third parties as required to comply with law or prevent illegal activity. We do not sell personal data and have not sold personal data during the last 12 months. For details regarding how we use personal data, please see the How we use personal data section of this policy. For information regarding how long we retain personal data, please refer to the How we protect your personal data section and the How long we keep your personal data section of this policy.

Category of personal data we collect	Category of recipients Disclosures for a business purpose
Identifiers – this may include name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, email address, account name, or other similar identifiers.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Data analytics providers Internet service providers Operating systems and platforms Other service providers Payment processors and financial institutions Professional services organizations, this may include auditors and law firms Social networks
Government issued identification – this may include social security number (e.g., as part of myFICO), driver’s license number, or state issued identification number, passport number.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Other service providers
Financial information – this may include bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, and other financial information.  For example, we may collect this information if you are a myFICO customer.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Other service providers Payment processors and financial institutions
Characteristics of protected classifications – this may include age if you have a myFICO account and we collect your date of birth.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Other Service Providers
Commercial information – this may include information about products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Data analytics providers Other service providers
Internet or other electronic network activity information – this may include browsing history, search history, and information regarding an individual’s interaction with an internet website, application, or advertisement.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Data analytics providers Internet service providers Operating systems and platforms Other service providers
Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information	Affiliates or subsidiaries Other service providers
Professional or employment-related information (e.g., if you apply for a job)	Affiliates or subsidiaries Payment processors and financial institutions Other service providers
Inferences drawn from any of the information listed above	Affiliates or subsidiaries Data analytics providers Other service providers
Additional categories of personal information described in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)) – this may include signature.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Other Service Providers

 

Contacting Us

If you have a question about our privacy policy or practices, or want to submit a complaint, you may contact FICO’s Privacy Team through the FICO Trust Center. We have appointed EU Rep as our Representative under Article 27 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). GDPR queries from EU Data Subjects or Data Protection Authorities should be addressed to EU Rep at privacy@eurep.ie. The registered office for EU Rep is: BizLegal Ltd trading as EU Rep, 27 Cork Road, Middleton Co. Cork, Ireland. The company number is: 635921.

You may also contact the FICO Privacy Team at the following:

United States
Vickie Miller, Data Protection Officer
181 Metro Drive
San Jose, CA 95110
Tel. (858) 369-8101
Email Address: privacyteam@fico.com

United Kingdom
Max Garth, Head of Legal, EMEA
Cottons Centre 5th Floor
Hays Lane
London SE1 2 QP
United Kingdom
Email Address: privacyteam@fico.com

European Union
Alexander Bugl
Bugl & Kollegen GmbH 
Sedanstraße 7  
93055 Regensburg, Germany
E-Mail: privacyteam@fico.com

 

Changes to This Policy

If we change this policy, we will post the changes here. This policy was last updated and is effective as of January 2023.