Card Issuer Gives Access to Consumer Credit Scores
Kenneth Harney writes in this morning's San Francisco Chronicle about Providian's plans to give some of its credit card customers unlimited access to their credit scores including free email alerts anytime their scores move by more than 10 points.
Most big mortgage companies and banks periodically check their customers' credit scores as part of their routine quality control and auditing practices. Score movements help them gauge the default potentials of their home mortgage borrowers and other accounts. But they never show the scores to the people most vitally affected by them -- their customers.Providian Senior Vice President Alan Elias says that's not the way it should be. Keeping scores secret needlessly keeps borrowers in the dark about a critically important aspect of their financial situations. On a cost basis, it's a no-brainer, he says.
"We already buy these scores once a month anyway," Elias said. "We have them. Why not share them with our customers?"
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