You are lumping together a number of players under "they." The number itself typically comes from Fair Issac -- who traditionally sold a black box algorithm to

You are lumping together a number of players under "they." The number itself typically comes from Fair Issac -- who traditionally sold a black box algorithm to project a multidimensional vector onto a single scalar. The data itself comes from a Credit Reporting Agency, who lumps together payment histories and public records. That data in turn came from creditors and public sources. I'll happily agree, though: the entire keiretsu benefits from the general public thinking it all sort of just happens and is authoritative and predictive in that single scalar.