[Enigma]

A Guru Offers Help on Credit Scores, but No Longer Makes Any Promises - New York Times


The New York Times
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May 7, 2007
A Guru Offers Help on Credit Scores, but No Longer Makes Any Promises
By DAMON DARLIN

Suze Orman, the telegenic personal finance guru, offers myriad ways for fans to soak up her wisdom — on her QVC show, her CNBC show, her Web site and in her best-selling books.

Now there is one claim she can no longer make: that the credit-score kit with her name and face on it can actually improve the creditworthiness of the person who buys it.

Under a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit against the Fair Isaac Corporation and Equifax, which sell products to consumers who want to gauge how fondly lenders will view them, there are new limits on the assertions these products can make about their ability to raise people’s credit profiles.

Ms. Orman sells “Suze Orman’s Fico Kit” on both her Web site and one run by Fair Isaac. Although she was not a defendant in the lawsuit, her kit was among 156 products that came under fire as potentially violating the Credit Repair Organizations Act, a law designed to control fly-by-night credit-repair agencies.

Under a settlement that the plaintiffs reached with Fair Isaac and Equifax, none of the credit products can be advertised in various ways, such as pairing the words “improving,” “enhancing,” “boosting” or “raising” with words like “tips,” “suggestions” or “advice.”

Two law firms, Pope, McGlamry, Kilpatrick, Morrison & Norwood of Atlanta and Battle, Fleenor, Green, Winn & Clemmer of Birmingham, Ala., filed suit against Fair Isaac and Equifax, its partner on the myFICO - FICO Credit Scores; Get a Free Credit Report Online with our Score Watch Trial Web site.

Fair Isaac did not admit liability, but settled the matter by paying the trial lawyers’ expenses and providing three free months of credit-score tracking to anyone who bought products between Nov. 19, 1999, and Feb. 8, 2007. Last Friday was a deadline for commenting on the proposed settlement, and a federal court is expected to make a ruling on June 4.

Both Ms. Orman and Fair Isaac continue to sell her Fico kit on their Web sites (for $47.70 and $49.95, respectively), but the marketing pitch for it (and other products) has been tweaked.

A spokeswoman for Ms. Orman said that she had no comment because she was not involved in the suit. No one else seems to want to talk about the settlement either: lawyers who filed the class action did not respond to requests for interviews, and Fair Isaac said it declined to comment because the resolution was not final. DAMON DARLIN

[Qtip]

Everyone gets paid = lets not talk about it lol

[hannah]

Originally Posted by Qtip

Everyone gets paid = lets not talk about it lol

I wouldn't call getting 3 months worth of credit-score tracking getting paid. You mean the attorneys got paid.

[Hedwig]

That's always the way class actions work, it seems. The lawyers make a boatload of money and we get a coupon to continue being ripped off by the company.

[roybean]

I don't see the point of a class action unless you're looking at it from the lawyers' viewpoint. I mean ethically and morally maybe, but financially no one gains anything except the attorneys.

[neil5623]

Interesting note about Ms. Orman is that her personal investment style is much more conservative than the advice she gives.

[Hedwig]

And the advice she gives isn't necessarily the best for many people, either. Everyone's situation is different and people need to stop thinking there is only one answer. Each person should read a lot and then form his or her own opinion.