Consumer credit is heavily regulated. Not only is discriminating based on protected class illegal, the bank has to be able to explain its credit risk model to r

Consumer credit is heavily regulated. Not only is discriminating based on protected class illegal, the bank has to be able to explain its credit risk model to regulators. They can't use stuff like machine learning because that would be an unexplainable black box. Credit risk modeling is literally the core of their business. Often banks don't use FICO directly. They run their own model. They want to pick up as many customers who are likely to successfully finish their loan payments without picking up too many customers who are relatively more likely to default if there's a recession. A few basis points here and there is a big deal. There's models for mortgages, car loans, credit cards, boat loans, etc. The licensing cost of a new model, or just the upgrade costs must be justified by some benefit. Banks are stereo-typically slow moving.