Spector Caldes & Corrigan (formerly known as Spector Roseman & Kodroff) has been appointed as interim Co-Lead Counsel for Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs in an antitrust action against Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO).
The lawsuit alleges that FICO unlawfully maintained a monopoly over the Business-to-Business (B2B) Credit Score Market, forcing lenders, landlords, auto dealers, and other businesses to pay inflated prices for its FICO Scores. Rather than compete with lower-cost alternatives like VantageScore, FICO is accused of, among other things, striking anticompetitive contracts with the large Credit Bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) that restrict competition, suppress rival products, and prevent businesses from accessing more affordable and inclusive scoring models.
While FICO Scores are used in more than 90% of U.S. lending decisions, plaintiffs allege that FICO preserved its dominance not through innovation but through exclusionary conduct. The complaint points to provisions that penalize credit bureaus for offering competing scores, prohibit marketing of VantageScore, and eliminate price competition. These tactics, combined with baseless litigation and public campaigns to disparage rivals, allegedly allowed FICO to increase profits in recent years while businesses and consumers paid the price. Plaintiffs contend that opening the market to competition would lower costs, expand access to credit, and spur innovation in credit scoring.
The matter is currently pending before U.S. District Court Judge April M. Perry in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. If you purchased a FICO Score in the B2B Credit Score Market from anyone other than FICO or a Credit Bureau from October 1, 2006 through the present, you may have overpaid because of the alleged scheme. For further information, or if you want to discuss your legal rights in the proposed class-action lawsuit, please email SCC partners Bill Caldes at bcaldes@scc.law or Jeff Spector at jspector@scc.law, or call our office at 215-496-0300.
