‘Risk Scores’ May Be Keep Secret

Credit bureaus are not required by law to disclose “risk scores” to consumers who request copies of their credit reports, the Federal Trade Commission said Friday.

A risk score is a statistical evaluation of the information in a consumer’s credit file. Creditors such as banks and department stores often request them.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives consumers access to most of the information in a credit bureau’s files on them at the time they request it.

But because the risk scores are not in the file, the FTC concluded that federal law does not require reporting agencies to disclose them.