They Had Great Credit Scores. Then They Retired - WSJ

living on a fixed income and paying off old loans can lower a score, said Ethan Dornhelm, vice president of scores and analytics at FICO.

Deleveraging is a significant credit risk in the funhouse mirror world of FICO logic.

Income and employment data aren’t included in the calculation, but credit scores do reward borrowers for having a mix of different kinds of loans, which can hurt those who have already paid off mortgages and auto loans.

They don’t care about your assets, liquidity, or employment status. It only matters that you have a nice, fat portfolio of debt and that you play by their rulebook which, by the way, you’re not allowed to read because it’s “proprietary.”