UK Cards Data Suggests Action Items for Issuers

Today we released new data on UK card trends, and if you read between the lines you can see some opportunities for card issuers. As with the data last week on static delinquencies, this reporting comes from the team of consultants that works with UK card issuers using FICO TRIAD...

Has Deleveraging in the US Come to an End?

After five years of nearly uninterrupted deleveraging, are American consumers (with a little help from lenders) ready to reverse course and begin taking on more debt? According to our latest quarterly survey of US bank risk professionals, the answer seems to be yes. A large majority (61%) of the 251...

Join Us For FICO World 2013

How are companies using Big Data analytics to understand and collaborate with today’s connected consumer? Join us at FICO World 2013 to discover answers from experts and network with your banking peers. Registration is now open for the conference, which will be held April 30-May 3 in Miami. FICO World...

Stealing Some Magic From Retailers

My last post talked about a recent project to set customer-level limits for a major European bank. By understanding activity from across a range of products, the bank can better assess the degree to which it's willing to lend and how to allocate available credit between different products. This is...

Setting Customer-Level Limits Across Products

Full-service retail banks have long known that one possible strategy to competitive advantage lies in making better use of their data—and in particular, data aggregated to the customer level. As a case in point, I'll share a few details from a successful proof of concept project we completed for a...

Calculating Ability to Pay

Interest rates are at all-time lows in many global economies. This makes it more attractive for consumers to take out additional loans, with money being very, very cheap. However, this may create a situation of adverse selection, with many banks reluctant to lend to higher-risk individuals who need the credit—what...

Is US Consumer Credit Health Continuing to Improve?

In my first post about our latest quarterly US survey of bank risk professionals, I highlighted the optimism around small business lending. That optimism appears to extend to consumer lending. In fact, this was the second consecutive quarter where a majority of bankers expected delinquency rates to remain flat or...

Is US Consumer Credit Availability About to Expand?

Lately on the blog, I’ve been examining the results of our latest quarterly survey of US bank risk managers. One item of note was regarding the outlook for credit availability. In a positive sign, our survey found that lenders expected the supply of credit to satisfy demand for all types...

European Risk Survey Shows a Rocky Road Ahead

FICO’s latest survey of European credit risk managers with Efma included a set of questions on trends in the European credit market. The answers shine a stark light on the situation for the region’s banks, which can expect staff reductions, bank consolidations and shedding of divisions and portfolios to cope...

25% of Brazilian families have sizeable debt

The Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo recently reported that 25% of Brazilian families dedicate more than a third of their income toward debt payment. While a surprising statistic, it makes more sense once you realize that most have modest discretionary income. On average, 70% of income is tied...