First, explaining scores might open the door to Fair, Isaac's competitors. Second, consumers might be able to use the information to manipulate their scores. For a brief time last spring, online lender E-Loan allowed consumers to see their credit scores. When Fair, Isaac complained, Equifax stopped supplying E-Loan with credit reports. E-Loan relented, but at the same time the online lender lobbied Congress to require credit bureaus to release the scores to consumers.
Information improves markets.
Larsen believes that the availability of credit scores will bring a revolution because consumers will manage debt in the same objective way that asset managers oversee investments. Without credit scores, you can't get out of the starting gate. The California law requires credit bureaus to tell consumers the top four reason codes. Reason codes will explain that you are being penalized because you are borrowing from a finance company rather than a bank, or because you have too few credit cards or too many credit cards or you have too many accounts with balances or too many accounts without balances. You can even be penalized for paying for your car with cash, Hillebrand says.