We are all too familiar with our credit score (or FICO score) which is the number from 300 to 850 which determines creditscoreour overall credit risk. But, did you know that you are scored on far more things that just this number? And, not only that, you are profiled in ways you cannot imagine in making determinations about your ability to pay, etc.

Applying a credit rating to customers has become a science for credit card companies because the more data they can generate on your buying habits with their cards, the more they can predict your behaviors which helps them make decisions about you and your account. Here are some categories that you are scored on which you may have never heard about before.

Response. This score is based upon the likelihood that you will respond to an offer of credit such as a zero balance transfer, etc. These scores are used to make a decision about who to make offers of credit to based on the response factor.

Revenue. This is used to measure how much revenue an account will generate for the credit card company.

Application. This is information about you that is accumulated which includes information on where you live, how long you have lived there and how much you earn and how long you have worked at your present job. This data is combined with other scores in order to determine whether or not to open an account and what the rate you should be charged and what the credit limit should be on your account.

Bankruptcy. This score predicts the likelihood that you will completely give up on your debt and file for bankruptcy – either chapter 7 or chapter 13. This is an important one, because in the case of credit cards, these are unsecured debts and they have no recourse or way to collect the amount that is discharged in bankruptcies.

Behavior. This is information specific to a particular creditor. Do you pay off your balance every month, pay only the minimums frequently? This is not information that is available on a credit report, but is only held in the card companies databases.

Attrition-risk. This score looks at the probability that if you stop using your card, is it worth contacting you and making offers to keep you as a happy customers because you are reliable in making payments and so on. Conversely, if you are not as good a customer based on that detail, you might not be made any kind of offer if you decide to take your business to another card.

Transaction. This is the instant feedback tells the merchant if your transaction has been approved or not. There are triggers in this to try to catch fraud and misuse.

Collection. When a customer stops paying, this score helps determine what kind of success the credit card company will have at collecting on the debt. Factors that go into this are the amount owed and your ability to pay based on financial status. Also your credit report is monitored for recent activity on other accounts in case there are payoffs which indicates that you might have some money.

While this data seems dull and boring to most, it does make up a system of monitoring on the part of credit card companies to help THEM make money and you remain a customer. It’s not pretty, but it does exist and is used everyday.



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