Nearly Half a Million Consumers Access Their FICO^® Scores for Free Through FNBO’s Credit Watch℠ Program

BOZEMAN, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2024-- FICO (NYSE: FICO)

Highlights

• Through its participation in the enhanced FICO^® Score consumer education program, FNBO helps empower customers with the information they need to be more in control of their everyday finances
• Since the launch of FNBO Credit Watch℠ in June 2023, over 17% of FNBO’s online consumer credit card customers have enrolled
• FNBO has won a 2024 FICO^® Decisions Award for Financial Inclusion

For more than ten years, FNBO (First National Bank of Omaha), one of the largest privately held banks in the United States, has worked with analytic software leader FICO to offer FICO^® Scores to its customers by participating in the FICO^® Score Open Access program. This access creates and cultivates more financially aware, literate consumers by allowing them to view their FICO Score directly on their online account or mobile app. Expanding on its success with FICO Score Open Access, FNBO introduced an enhanced and feature-rich consumer education program known as FNBO Credit Watch℠.

Through the FNBO Credit Watch℠ program, FNBO customers can access their FICO^® Score and view up to five positive and negative factors that impact their FICO Score. These additional factors help educate customers and allow them to make more informed credit decisions. Customers further understand the impacts of opening new lines of credit, paying down debt and paying bills on time. Since the launch of FNBO Credit Watch in June 2023, nearly 500,000 customers have joined the program in the first nine months. This accounts for 17% of FNBO’s online consumer credit card population.

“The benefits of the FICO Score Open Access and FNBO Credit Watch programs have been tremendous,” said Jerry O’Flanagan, executive vice president at FNBO. “The transparency has enabled our customers to be more in control of their everyday finances. This knowledge and empowerment transfers to other significant customer financial decisions, whether it is obtaining a home mortgage, starting a small business, or buying a car.”

With FNBO’s Credit Watch℠, real time credit inquiry alerts also help customers monitor their accounts by supporting early detection of identity theft and fraud. These features support the company’s ongoing focus to encourage financial well-being and deepen relationships with customers.

“FNBO’s efforts in furthering credit transparency go hand in hand with FICO’s focus on financial literacy and empowerment,” said Nikhil Behl, chief marketing officer and executive vice president at FICO. “It is important for consumers to have access to their FICO Score, the credit score that is used by 90% of top U.S. lenders, and we applaud FNBO’s decision to make it easier than ever for their customers to access this valuable information.”

For these achievements, FNBO won a 2024 FICO^® Decisions Award for Financial Inclusion.

“FNBO’s Credit Watch program is an impactful project that can help more Americans gain control of their financial health,” Nick Vitchev, director at Chartis Research and one of the FICO Decisions Awards judges. “The judges were impressed by FNBO’s commitment to expanding their financial education and credit transparency toolset to better serve their customers.”

With the enhanced content of the FICO Score consumer educational program, lenders like FNBO, are able to provide their customers with content beyond the standard program, such as additional FICO Score Factors and FICO Score Ingredients that provide a deeper insight into what is driving the consumers FICO Score.

More information: https://www.fico.com/en/products/fico-score-open-access

About FNBO

FNBO (First National Bank of Omaha), a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska, Inc. (FNNI), is one of the largest privately held banks in the US and has been in business for more than 165 years. FNNI and its affiliates have over $30 billion in assets and 5,000 employees. FNBO is a leader in the partnership payment arena, with partners in a variety of industries including retail, travel, entertainment, automotive, financial institutions and more. FNBO specializes in providing comprehensive payment solutions with personalized service to help its customers achieve their goals. Founded in 1857, FNBO has maintained its commitment to customers and helping build strong communities. Learn more at FNBO.com and connect on Facebook, X and Instagram.

About the FICO^® Decisions Awards

The FICO Decisions Awards recognize organizations that are achieving remarkable success using FICO solutions. A panel of independent judges with deep industry expertise evaluates nominations based upon measurable improvement in key metrics; demonstrated use of best practices; project scale, depth and breadth; and innovative uses of technology. The 2024 judges are:

• Andrew Birmingham, editor, Mi3
• Eric Kavanagh, CEO Bloor Group and host, InsideAnalysis
• Elizabeth Lumley, deputy editor, The Banker
• Paul Mah, senior editor, CDO Trends
• Laura Martins, editor, IT Forum
• Paul Robinson, VP credit management at Canadian Tire Bank (previous winner)
• Shiv Sehgal, EVP audience analytics at RSG Media (previous winner)
• Nick Vitchev, director at Chartis

The winners of the FICO Decisions Awards were spotlighted at FICO^® World 2024, April 15 – April 18, 2024 in San Diego, California.

About FICO

FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 200 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 4 billion payment cards from fraud, to improving financial inclusion, to increasing supply chain resiliency. The FICO^® Score, used by 90% of top US lenders, is the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the US and has been made available in over 40 other countries, improving risk management, credit access and transparency. Learn more at www.fico.com.

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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240502441303/en/

Julie Huang
press@fico.com

Source: FICO