U.S. FICO scores hit new lows
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Steve Chiotakis: Fewer people are able to spend money that’s extended to them by way of credit. The credit consulting company FICO says millions more Americans have credit scores that could prevent
them from getting credit cards or loans with the tighter lending standards banks now use. Figures show that more than a quarter of all consumers — more than 43 million people – now have a credit score of 599 or below, marking them poor risks. Dave Jones is president of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies — quite a mouthful there — he’s with us live from Fairfax, Va. Good morning, Dave.
Dave Jones: Good morning Steve, how are you?
Chiotakis: Doing well. What’s causing this sir?
Jones: Well, a more conservative view on the part of creditors nationwide. They’re not as interested in loaning money in what they consider to be high-risk areas as they were in the past.
Chiotakis: So all right, more conservative. Would this have happened before regulations of the banks?
Jones: Well it wouldn’t have happened before the financial meltdown that we had, and of course the ensuing regulations. I think they would have been a lot more open with their credit than they are today.
Chiotakis: What about this, I think there’s some paradox going on, because the same report that came out today from FICO says all right, we have all these people, a quarter of the population, the consumers that are below 599, and then we have an increasing number who are above 800. What’s going on there?
Jones: Yeah we have not seen that in the past. What’s happening is people are paying off their credit and they are not borrowing to the extent that they did in the past. So we see a lot more people with a good debt-to-income ratio than we did in the past.
Chiotakis: Well, all right. Dave Jones, president of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies, joining us from Fairfax, Va. Thank you, sir.
Jones: Yes, sir.
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