Secret Credit Scores May Soon Be Revealed.

• Position: Brief Article

Bought a home or a car lately? Applied for insurance or a credit card? Chances are your approval or denial was based on your credit score. But chances are greater that you don't know what your score is. And this concerns some state legislators.

Information, such as payment history, the number and type of accounts you have, late payments, collection actions, outstanding debt and the age of your accounts, is collected from your credit application and your credit report.

Using a statistical program, creditors compare this information to the credit performance of consumers with similar profiles.

A credit scoring system awards points for each factor that helps predict who is most likely to repay a debt. The resulting credit score, ranging from 300 to 900 points, helps predict how credit-worthy you are--that is, how likely it is that you will repay a loan and make the payments when due.

Until recently, credit scores were kept confidential. Few consumers knew that these scores were included on most credit reports, and even fewer saw them. Credit bureaus that license the software for generating these scores agreed not to share scores with individual consumers, and banks also are not obligated to disclose them. But that may change.

During the last five years, at least 13 states have considered bills related to credit...