Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Warren Buffett's FICO Score

I can't find a link, but the latest issue of Fortune has a blurb on Warren Buffett's FICO score. The moneymaker billionaire extraordinaire has a score of 718.

If that seems a little low, it's because it is. In fact, it's lower than mine (!), and a hair below the US median score. Apparently, there's some false info on his report; 23 missed payments on a $295 loan. Okay, first of all, who takes out a $295 loan? Oh wait, it's from an HSBC branch in Las Vegas. But that still leaves us with another big WTF.

This is a man who recently ousted Gates from the number one spot as the richest person in the world, with a net worth of 62 billion. I'm sure that when it's all said and done, he pays his bills on time. He certainly pays his shareholders on time. And yet the missed 23 payments A) don't get flagged and B) somehow bypass his borrowing power (presumably one of the purposes of a FICO score to begin with), the likes of which could buy and sell Fair Isaac & Co. on a morning caffeinated whim.

A FICO score just might not be the litmus test for financial risk. If a mistake is hurting Buffett's score, I can only imagine what it's doing to ours...

5 comments:

Debt Dieter said...

I dare say he wouldn't need to borrow money often though, making his score irrelevant for him?

Anonymous said...

My thought:

He or someone completely forgot to add it to his list of things to pay. Or screwed up the dates. And the group didn't pester because he was Warren Buffett...but it still made a mark.

I don't know why he'd need a loan. :-/

tracyho said...

Thanks for your post ,

Can't believe this is true ,

Great to know that anyway ,


Tracy Ho
wisdomgettingloaded

PiggyBankBlues said...

dd- true, i think nobody really cares what his fico score is :)

mm- maybe he needs to write off the interest? but i really can't imagine you need to nickel and dime with that much money...

th- hey, welcome to pbb!

Unknown said...

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