New score helps lenders assess consumers with limited credit history.

• Position: New Products - Brief Article

Lenders have traditionally had a problem assessing the creditworthiness of consumers with little or no credit history--particularly young adults, recent immigrants and low-income individuals.

With changing demographics, some of these underserved market segments today might prove to be growth markets for financial services institutions.

Now Fair Isaac Corp., Minneapolis, has created a new credit score that will give lenders a better view of the creditworthiness of these customer segments. The company is the creator of the FICO credit score, which is used by most lenders. The new product is called the FICO Expansion score.

This new score will tap nontraditional sources of...