Not Jerome Powell

$FICO CEO just lost the plot on Q4 earnings call! “Ashish, I guess I can't blame you for asking the question, but maybe it's time for me just to explain a little bit of a change in philosophy and in how we talk about our pricing and our programs and so on. I know, I think you all know, it's no secret that transparency and detail on our programs and pricing have not been particularly helpful for FICO. We were of a view for many years that because the FICO score at $10 or $4.95 or whatever we were charging, was such a tiny fraction of overall closing costs, we really didn't think that the price was a very big deal. We thought that the value so far exceeded the price that why not share details around the pricing just so that everyone understands how little it is in the scheme of things? As you all know from watching events over the last several years, we've really been attacked for, you know, what we consider to be, you know, not very good reasons. We're attacked because we're transparent and clear about our score price. As you all know, the credit files cost a lot more, credit evaluation costs are much more. In fact, every other element of the closing is a lot more than what FICO charges. Yet somehow FICO has become the poster child for affordability in housing, which is just a crazy thing. Internally, we have had a lot of conversations about has this transparency been helpful, and the conclusion is no, it has not been helpful. I think you guys know that we have probably been in the top decile of open transparent, help everyone outside understand what we are doing inside, but it has not really worked very well for us. On a go-forward basis, our intention is to not share every detail. We are not going to share every pricing program. We are not going to share what the prices are. We are not going to share all of the terms. They are going to be customized, but by customer to meet customer needs. We are just not going to provide all that kind of information. To your very specific question, is the average price of a FICO Score going up, down, or sideways? We are not going to answer that. You guys who have been watching us and watching the industry can understand exactly why we are not going to answer that.” Yikes 😬