New Credit Scoring System for ’09 January 30, 2009
Posted by curmudgeonblog in business.add a comment
The biggest changes discourage piggybacking and penalizing infrequent delinquencies.
By Renuka Rayasam, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter
December 12, 2008
By next spring, two of three credit reporting bureaus will use a new model. Fair Isaac, the developer of FICO scores, has made the biggest change to its mathematical credit score model since it was introduced in 1989. Scores will still be on a 300- to 850-point scale. But the company estimates that 40% to 50% of borrowers’ scores could go up or down by more than 20 points because of how the new model fine-tunes the variables it uses to evaluate consumers’ credit use behavior.
For creditors, the new FICO score promises to reduce the risk of defaults, improving the predictability of defaults by 5% to 15%. Delinquencies are at their highest rate since 1992, when the economy was also in a recession. The revised scoring method “has a few more gray areas fleshed out so it gives us confidence in credit scoring models,” says Ginny Ferguson, a member of the board of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.
Equifax and TransUnion will be the first credit reporting bureaus to roll out the changes over the next year. As credit tightens because of the financial crisis, FICO scores are becoming increasingly important for borrowers looking to qualify for favorable terms. That puts high scorers in “even a better position for pricing on loans” as the economy recovers, says Ferguson.
The timing of the new scores reflects more changes in the marketplace, says Careen Foster, senior product manager at Fair Isaac. “Lenders said they wanted a stronger predictive model, but didn’t want to change how it is used,” she adds.
Fair Isaac has increased the number of groups that customers fall into from 10 to 12, taking into more account the number and magnitude of credit problems. Infrequent problem borrowers will no longer be lumped in with habitual delinquents. With the new model, “there is more forgiveness around people in the middle,” says Foster. “If you have one isolated missed payment you won’t score as low as before.” The new FICO model also focuses less on how many accounts a borrower has and more on the amount of balances carried.
Piggybacking — upping a score on someone else’s back — won’t be ruled out in the new FICO score. But it will make using that route to establishing credit harder and lengthier. The authorized user provision allows young adults to create a credit history by using and paying off accounts held by their parents. But it has also been subject to abuse, with high credit scorers selling their names to borrowers looking to improve scores. Fair Isaac estimates that 30% of U.S. credit card holders, or 60-75 million people, are authorized users. Credit.com says that many of those authorized users are women. Many of them rely on their husbands’ FICO scores, and it will now take longer for those women to build up their own credit scores.
Bennigan’s Bankruptcy; Is Famous Dave’s Next? August 12, 2008
Posted by curmudgeonblog in business.Tags: bankruptcy, restaurants
2 comments
Bennigan’s files for bankruptcy protection
By LAUREN SHEPHERD, AP Business Writer Tue Jul 29, 5:45 PM ET
NEW YORK – Restaurant chains Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and stores owned by its parent company will shut their doors.
The companies owned by privately held Metromedia Restaurant Group of Plano, Texas, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday in the Eastern District of Texas, less than two months after Metromedia said it was not preparing to do so. Metromedia Restaurant Group is a part of Metromedia Co., owned by billionaire John Kluge, that has interests in entertainment, radio stations and medical equipment.
In a Chapter 7 filing, a company seeks to liquidate its assets and shut down.
Locations owned by franchisees were not part of the bankruptcy filing and will not be shut down, said Larry Briski, president of the Bennigan’s Franchise Operator Association.
“They will be open today, tomorrow and months and years to come,” Briski said of the franchise locations.
The 138 domestic and international franchisee-owned restaurants are “open and fully operational,” Bennigan’s Franchising Co. LP and Steak & Ale Franchising Co. LP said in a statement.
Briski said there are about 150 company-owned Bennigan’s restaurants.
Meanwhile, employees at what appeared to be a company-owned Bennigan’s in Plano were greeted by a sign Tuesday on the front door reading “WE ARE CLOSED. THANK YOU.” Next door, a Steak & Ale sat empty in a deserted parking lot but there was no sign posted.
A waiter named Steve, who wouldn’t give his last name, said the staff got a phone call Tuesday morning telling them the restaurant was closing.
Neither Bennigan’s nor the Metromedia Restaurant Group returned calls for comment. A lawyer listed in the filing, J. Michael Sutherland of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal LLP, did not return a call.
The filing lists 38 separate entities that it classified as “debtors” but does not include a list of locations that are shutting down.
All restaurants have been struggling as consumers cut back on discretionary spending to better deal with high gas prices, the weak housing market and inflation. The hardest hit have been casual dining chains and bar and grill restaurants, which charge higher prices than fast food and other quick-service chains.
Bar and grill restaurants have also suffered from intense competition. Morningstar analyst John Owens said several chains expanded quickly, making it more difficult for customers to differentiate between them and forcing many companies to cut prices to lure diners.
“Bennigan’s was the weakest of the major players,” Owens said.
Meanwhile, commodity costs have soared, forcing chains to either raise menu prices or see profits plunge.
Credit has also been tight, making it difficult for companies to restructure their debt.
In June, Metromedia Restaurants said it was formulating a proposal to present to its lenders to restructure its debt, but said it was not preparing to file for bankruptcy.
In the filing, the company indicated that it has up to 49 creditors and owes less than $50,000. It said it will have no funds left after administrative expenses are paid to repay its creditors.
Jeffry Davis, a bankruptcy attorney at Mintz Levin in San Diego who is not involved in the filing, said he was surprised the company didn’t file for Chapter 11 protection, which would have allowed it to reorganize and remain open, and instead filed to liquidate its assets.
“Typically, at that point, management sees no way to improve the business within a reasonable period of time to allow it to go forward,” he said. “To me it’s really indicative of the economy.”
The news appeared to be a shock to most of the company’s employees, but some may have had an inkling that the company was not doing well.
Steve, the Bennigan’s waiter in Plano, said he recently went from making $30 on a good lunch shift to only $10.
“Business has been slow,” said Steve, who said he relies on tips. “I went from making a lot of money on a shift to making very little.
___
Associated Press Writer Paul J. Weber in Dallas contributed to this report.
Famous Dave’s parking lot is looking pretty sparse most days. I wonder if they are the next shoe to drop?
Curmudgeon's Weblog 