Score Cutoffs and Populations

The system uses score cutoffs to set a recommended score decision based on the relationship of the score returned from the model to the score cutoff value. If the score is above the score cutoff, the recommended score decision is Accept. If the score is less than or equal to the score cutoff, the recommended score decision is Decline. System administrators with the proper permissions set and assign the score cutoff value for a population. For example, you can change the score cutoff for consumer loans to 220. Then, during application processing, a score (for example, 300) is compared with the cutoff value (which was set at 220), and the recommended score decision depends on the relationship between the score and the cutoff. In this example, the recommended score decision is “Accept”. The recommended score decision is one of the factors the Application Processing Module can use when making a decision for an application and can be adjusted by the application of rules (for example, above or below cutoff review rules may reverse a recommended decision).

Score cutoff values are specified in scoring populations (a subset of a credit portfolio that presents a unique risk or treatment requirement). Populations are used for score cutoffs as well as reports. The system comes with pre-defined populations designed for use with the FICO^® Small Business Scoring Service (SBSS) 7.0 suite. The SBSS scores for the application are compared to the cutoff. If you use your own models, you will need to define your own populations.

There is a one-to-one relationship between the scoring population and the model category used in creating the score for the SBSS7 models. If you are using SBSS7, consult with FICO before defining new populations because you will need to modify reports and rules to make use of those populations.