A story on CNBC’s website stated:
But how possible is it really to achieve an 850, and is it worth the effort? MyFICO.com says that only .5 – 1 percent of consumers have achieved this golden number.
creditscoring.com asked CNBC for the name a person who, or the address of a document that, is the source of that statistic. Rather than naming its source, CNBC replied that a myFICO representative said that 13 percent have a score over 800. CNBC changed its story so that it said this:
But how possible is it really to achieve a perfect score, and is it worth the effort? MyFICO.com reports that only 13% percent[SIC] of consumers have achieved scores over 800.
USA TODAY republished the CNBC article.
However, in July, USA TODAY published an Associated Press report that said:
On the positive side, the number of consumers who have a top score of 800 or above has increased in recent years. At least in part, this reflects that more individuals have cut spending and paid down debt in response to the recession. Their ranks now stand at 17.9%, which is notably above the historical average of 13%, though down from 18.7% in April 2008 before the market meltdown.
In July, Fair Isaac said that it would replace its distribution chart. It has not done so.