Related study : Foreign
First, you should know that fair and responsible lending has always been a concern of mine dating back to 1974, when I completed my studies at Stanford University and began my career in credit at Standard Oil of Indiana (AMOCO brand). That year I witnessed the enactment of theEqual Credit Opportunity Act (implemented by Regulation B), whose purpose was to promote the availability of loans to creditworthy applicants and prohibit discrimination based upon gender and marital status (subsequent amendments included other prohibited bases, such as race, color, national origin, religion, age, being a recipient of public assistance or exercising rights under the Consumer Protection Act). At AMOCO Credit, I had the opportunity to study data patterns across six million credit card accounts. During the course of my work there, I evaluated direct mail credit card solicitation programs for profitability and applicant pre-screening models for effectiveness. I also conducted statistical sampling and research into the reasons for credit card denials.
In 1976, I moved back to California and continued my journey into the credit granting field at Fair Isaac & Co. (FICO) in San Rafael. FICO was the world's leading developer of credit scoring models at the time (they had already produced in excess of 650 scoring systems for credit grantors in the US and globally). In addition to building credit scoring systems for installment and revolving credit for banks, oil companies and department store chains, I also conducted research into competing methods and researched implications of Regulation B relative to credit scoring methods. In April 1977, I served as a panelist and delivered a paper on statistically assessing model performance upon validation at a conference focused on Reg. B and Credit Scoring that drew attendance from twenty-three states and Canada. My paper was later cited By David Hsia in his article on Credit Scoring and ECOA that appeared in the...