I was speaking to a loan officer recently, and the purpose of the credit score seems only vaguely related to how well it actually predicts risk. The gist was t

I was speaking to a loan officer recently, and the purpose of the credit score seems only vaguely related to how well it actually predicts risk. The gist was that if all their rates are based on a standard formula with no individual discretion, they are safe from regulation around (1) discrimination, (2) risky lending such as led to '08. That sounded more important to them than actually accurate risk modeling, especially since their competitors are all using the same formulas. (edit: In particular, even if you offered them access to much more effective/predictive data points than the credit score, they would not use them because of (1) and (2) above.)