FICO Monopolizes Sales of Credit Scores to Businesses, Suit Says

Fair Isaac Corp., better known as FICO, was hit with an antitrust lawsuit in Chicago federal court claiming it uses restrictive agreements with credit bureaus to maintain a 90% monopoly on sales of consumer credit scores to businesses.

“Fair Isaac sells four times more FICO scores per year than McDonald’s sells hamburgers worldwide,” the suit says.

It accuses the company of leveraging its dominant market share to impose anti-competitive terms on nonparties TransUnion, Experian, and EquiFax, top credit reporting agencies that the suit portrays as reluctant “co-conspirators.”

The FICO distribution agreements bar the credit bureaus from competing ...