Does Knowing Your FICO Score Change Financial Behavior? Evidence From a Field Experiment

• In Event: 1570 - Household Finance and Inequality

Abstract

This paper evaluates the impact of providing access to FICO scores on nancial knowledge
and behavior. We conduct a eld experiment with over 400,000 Sallie Mae student loan bor-
rowers in which we randomize provision of information on the availability of the score. Using
administrative credit report data, we nd that borrowers in the treatment group are less likely
to have any payments past due, more likely to have at least one revolving credit account, and
have higher FICO scores on average. Data from a nancial literacy survey shows no dierence in
general nancial knowledge across treatment conditions, but nds that treatment group mem-
bers were more likely to accurately report their own FICO score; specically, they were less
likely to overestimate their score.

Authors

• Rourke Liam OBrien, University of Wisconsin

• Abigail Sussman, University of Chicago

• Tatiana Homonoff, New York University