Scorecard

Credit-scoring models are commonly described as sets of scorecards, with each file placed in a group, such as files with or without serious delinquencies or with older or newer accounts, and scored by that group's formula. FICO doesn't publish how its versions divide files. What circulates about scorecard counts and boundaries comes from consumer forums, where experienced posters call the rules estimates drawn from observed behavior.

In mortgages, the word has a concrete meaning. FHA runs most files through its TOTAL Mortgage Scorecard, an automated system. Files it doesn't approve, and files with no credit score, go to manual underwriting with fixed debt-to-income limits. Under HUD's dispute rule, disputed non-medical derogatory balances of $1,000 or more push a file out of automated approval.