Sen Josh Hawley asks Trump DOJ to investigate FICO, ‘monopoly’ over US credit scores

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has asked President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to investigate whether the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) is abusing its “monopoly” over the business. He also said that former President Joe Biden’s administration had ignored his earlier calls for scrutiny.

In a letter to Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater on Friday, Hawley said that FICO dominates the business-to-business credit scoring market with a roughly 90% market share.

He added, “It enjoys a sweetheart deal from the federal government wherein its credit scores are required for loans originated with multiple government entities.” 

FICO has been raising prices frequently

According to Hawley, the country’s biggest credit-scoring company has abused the market power the government gave it. This is because it raised prices many times and made huge profits while having little competition.

For instance, it raised the price of scores again at the end of last year, this time from $3.50 to $4.95 per score for mortgage originations. A rise of more than 40%. 

As a result, the price increases by FICO have made the company a lot of money, but they have hurt working Americans. Their cash income almost tripled between 2019 and 2024. 

In addition, in ten years, its stock price has done better than 5% of the S&P 500. However, in fiscal year 2024, the former company’s CEO, William Lansing, got $35 million in pay. This was less than the $66 million he got the year before. Lansing has said about the price hikes, “It’s still small in the scheme of things, but for us, it was a big increase in price, in profit, revenue margin, all those things.”

Similar to what he said to Biden, the burden of those increases has been borne by borrowers, especially lower-income borrowers, who now find it harder to purchase a home. Borrowers will either have to pay more upfront or pay more in interest whenever FICO is raising its prices.

Hawley said, “FICO has exploited working Americans with its monopoly power for too long. I therefore urge you to immediately open an investigation into the company for its potentially anticompetitive behavior.”

Barclays has lowered FICO’s price target

Barclays has lowered the price target for FICO  shares to $2,250 from $2,350. The firm still rates the shares as “Overweight.” In a research note sent to investors, the analyst says that credit bureaus and rating agencies are most at risk of negative number revisions for the year. This is because new tariffs are likely to raise prices and raise the risk of a recession.

Also, new changes in the options market mean that Fair Isaac Corporation FICO stock investors need to pay close attention to the stock. This is because the April 17, 2025, $1,440 Call had some of the highest implied volatility of all equity options today.

The recent actions of 56 corporate insiders show that corporate insiders don’t like the stock. In other words, more insiders have sold their shares of FICO in the last quarter than in the first quarter of the year. For instance, William J. Lansing sold 4,092 shares last month for a total of $7,069,673.55.

As of today, the company’s highest price was $2,402.52 and its lowest price was $1,105.65. Fair Isaac has an average volume of 206.5K right now. At the moment, most analysts think that Fair Isaac is a Moderate Buy, and they expect the stock to reach $2,179.70.

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