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The way consumer credit scores are calculated will be changing soon. In early spring, The Fair Isaac Corp., creator of the FICO score, will unveil a new scoring model for determining credit scores, dubbed FICO 08. While the Fair Isaac Corp. is keeping its methodology for determining credit scores under wraps, the Better Business Bureau is offering a few details and advising consumers on how FICO 08 could affect them in ways they may not have imagined.

FICO scores - which range from 300 to 850, with higher scores being better - are based on consumers' credit histories and reveal their risk for defaulting on loans. A good credit score is anything higher than 700. Average FICO scores for U.S. consumers are around 690. More than 90 percent of the 100 largest banks rely on FICO scores in determining both who they will lend to, and at what rate.

"Not only can a low FICO score keep consumers from getting loans to buy a house or car, but many landlords, utilities services and employers rely on the score as well," said Steve Cox, BBB spokesman. "This means that a bad score can keep people from getting a good rate on insurance, an apartment or even a job."

The Fair Isaac Corp. explains that the new method is more forgiving of minor slip-ups and will more accurately predict a borrower's risk of defaulting on loans. The good news it that the Fair Isaac Corp. predicts that more people will see their score increase than decrease.

FICO 08 will still take into consideration the same factors of a person's financial history including indebtedness, length of credit history and number of open lines of credit. The difference with FICO 08 is the weight these factors will carry. The Fair Isaac Corp. explains that two people with the same score today could have completely divergent scores under FICO 08.

Your FICO score might go up if you maintain various lines of credit, such as credit cards, a car loan and a home loan, because it demonstrates your ability to successfully manage different types of loans. You will also be penalized less if you are delinquent in one account, but are in good standing in others.

Your FICO score might go down if you have many delinquent accounts. While a delinquent account has always had a negative effect on your score, persons with more than one delinquent account may see their score slip even more.

PIGGYBACKING

The BBB notes that piggybacking has become a popular way for people with no credit or bad credit to increase their credit score. Piggybacking involves being added as an authorized user to an account maintained by a person with good credit. Often, parents will make their child a joint user of their credit card which helps the child build a credit history.

But the flip side of piggybacking is that credit repair services have cropped up that allow and encourage people to essentially "sell" their good credit to people with poor credit by making them authorized users on their accounts. In order to discourage this practice, when determining credit scores, FICO 08 will not consider accounts where the consumer is only an authorized user. Parents can still make their child an authorized user of a credit card, but the child's own FICO score will not be affected.

The bureau encourages consumers to request a free credit report once every 12 months, and people can do so at: www.annualcreditreport.com. Consumers can get a free report from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Obtaining an actual credit score may cost consumers a few dollars, but for those who don't know or are concerned about their credit score, the cost is minimal compared to the cost of not getting a loan, paying higher interest rates or not being considered for a new job.

For more information on being a responsible borrower and for reliable advice on how to increase FICO scores, visit www.bbb.org.

Kay Robinson is president of the Better Business Bureau of Central East Texas, serving 19 East Texas counties. To contact the BBB in Tyler, call 903-581-5704, and in Longview, call 903-757-3611 or 800-443-0131, or visit the Web site at www.easttexas.bbb.org. The organization can be e-mailed at info@tyler.bbb.org.