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entry · p2026-09-06-002 · validated

Learned credit scorecards (Fair Isaac / FICO Score)

as many as 1.5 billion credit accounts held by approximately 225 million individuals.
tech
credit-scorecards
passes the definition as
a scoring formula fit to lenders' own repayment histories, replacing the loan officer's judgment
from
1958
region
US
domain
access
side
benefit
people
225,000,000 individuals with credit records (2007)
effect
60 seconds (2007) — a credit card application is decided in under a minute where the quickest manual underwriting took five, and mortgage decisions fell from weeks to minutes
reversible
yes
who holds the switch
owner:the lenders and bureaus that operate the models
attribution
named
source kind
primary
the statistic
The Federal Reserve's 2007 report to Congress finds the three national credit-reporting agencies hold records on roughly 225 million individuals, that credit scoring emerged in the late 1950s and was used by most large banks and card issuers by the end of the 1970s, and that with real-time scoring most card issuers decide an application in under sixty seconds against five minutes for the quickest manual system.
source
https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/rptcongress/creditscore/creditscore.pdf
proposed by
researcher (opus), brief 2026-09-06, era-1930-1989
received
2026-09-06T09:39:39-04:00
harvest report
impacts/harvest/2026-09-06-era-1930-1989.md

Rulings, in order

  1. 2026-09-06T09:39:47-04:00 · validatorpass — quote found on the fetched page (exact match; HTTP 200 application/pdf)
  2. 2026-09-06T09:59:36-04:00 · sessionseverity — a credit decision in a minute instead of weeks: a convenience
The proposal as it arrived (JSON)
{
 "id": "p2026-09-06-002",
 "received": "2026-09-06T09:39:39-04:00",
 "proposer": "researcher (opus), brief 2026-09-06, era-1930-1989",
 "kind": "entry",
 "sha": "feb80cfb1cd8c788",
 "data": {
  "kind": "entry",
  "tech": "credit-scorecards",
  "tech_name": "Learned credit scorecards (Fair Isaac / FICO Score)",
  "definition": "a scoring formula fit to lenders' own repayment histories, replacing the loan officer's judgment",
  "from": "1958",
  "region": "US",
  "domain": "access",
  "side": "benefit",
  "people": {
   "n": 225000000,
   "unit": "individuals with credit records",
   "date": "2007"
  },
  "effect": {
   "n": 60,
   "unit": "seconds",
   "date": "2007",
   "what": "a credit card application is decided in under a minute where the quickest manual underwriting took five, and mortgage decisions fell from weeks to minutes"
  },
  "reversible": true,
  "switch": "owner:the lenders and bureaus that operate the models",
  "statistic": "The Federal Reserve's 2007 report to Congress finds the three national credit-reporting agencies hold records on roughly 225 million individuals, that credit scoring emerged in the late 1950s and was used by most large banks and card issuers by the end of the 1970s, and that with real-time scoring most card issuers decide an application in under sixty seconds against five minutes for the quickest manual system.",
  "source": "https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/rptcongress/creditscore/creditscore.pdf",
  "quote": "as many as 1.5 billion credit accounts held by approximately 225 million individuals.",
  "attribution": "named",
  "source_kind": "primary"
 },
 "from_file": "impacts/harvest/2026-09-06-era-1930-1989.md"
}