European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 16, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May 2007 stars and stripes Mideast edition Page 19 your Money opinions differ on fico effectiveness by Thomas Lee Minneapolis Star Tribune Minneapolis dont blame the that might not be anyone idea of a great corporate but executives at fair Isaac Are finding themselves playing defense this year about the company most vaunted As subprime mortgage de faults continue to some lend ers Are questioning the value of fair Isaacs fico which measures a Consumers ability to pay Back a fico scores were one of the Best predictors of Early de said Glenn an analyst with Fitch a credit rating Agency based in new that is not in a top executive with Hsc a major subprime told investors that fico scores were less effective or ineffective in predict ing behaviour during a period of aggressive lending and Low in Terest defenders of the fico score say the product works just they say Over aggressive lend hungry for Are More to blame for the increasing num Ber of defaults among Hometown because they loosened underwriting standards to take in More marginal borrowers and also sold riskier products such As adjustable rate were confident that fico does what it is supposed to said Ron vice president of global scoring solutions for Minneapolis based fair lenders develop their lending and they use As Little or As much information As they Totaro said there is no Evi Dence that fico scores Are not effective when applied to Bor rowers who fit in the riskier subprime portion of the any perception that fico is faulty could have serious consequences for fair fico is both the company bes known product and the most popular credit scoring system in the United last fico scores generated million in about 21 percent of fair Isaacs total fico also faces a Challenge from a new cred i scoring system developed and marketed by Tran Union and the country three top credit re porting fair Isaac is suing the claiming Vanta Escore violates antitrust a recent Fitch ratings report seems to lend some support to fair Isaac in the some of the Industry Riskiest subprime products High loan Ovalue piggyback others that required Little or no documentation of income made the fico score less significant relative to other attributes As an Early default Fitch mondays Market summary indexes 52 High Low name last net chg Ltd chg chg 52wk chg nose most Active or More name vol 00 last chg Dow Jones industrials Dow Jones transportation Dow Jones utilities nose composite amex Index Nash a composite Midcap Russell 2000 do Wilshire 5000 Nash a forum 646003 and 487124 Motorola 393308 pm cup 296323 Geneles 274552 Myla lab 262782 Pfizer 227553 i Tigre 213641 207584 Hal Libens 194697 most Active or More name vol 00 last chg Spur 1049496 ishr2knya 665414 spa Sci 246702 up engy 164708 Presho Rqn 156262 cry staling 110984 Semi her Djina diam on2 tech oils vat 109001 105666 76518 70776 most Active or More name vol 00 last chg Sun Micro pm she Sqq Al matl Cisco Intel Microsoft Andreon level3 Sirius Apple inc 1132784 1128409 510544 498998 485384 482790 398377 295147 225742 223047 key defense stocks chg Valliant Armor computer general general Harris Allied l3 Lockheed Rockwell Seq a Texas text Ron United key Mutual Fidelity invest Fidelity invest Fidelity spartan  Putnam funds a Erlna Amer Century inv Fidelity invest Fidelity invest Fidelity invest aim investments a const Frnk a Sec Para aim investments a Charta Fidelity advisor t Seq let Fidelity advisor t Groppo Putnam funds a Globe qty Dws Scudder cd s into Fidelity advisor t lord Abbett a Devota Dws Scudder cd s Putnam funds a Elgva Vista upgrade doubts linger i bought a Gateway Laptop in december with a free Vista up i made sure the Laptop was Vista ready and have received the Vista i have been hesitant to install the Vista up Grade because of the prior problems with and because i simply do not know what to expect problem Wise once in the it people Are waiting before install ing Vista at so they Are no would you advise to go ahead and in stall the upgrade or wait until More improve ments Are made Kay Oreilly Here is what i the reason so Many corporate information technology departments Are hold ing Back on Vista is because of the upgrade Cost for an operating sys tem in the Doest take business applications much beyond what windows up but one looks for different things when using a computer at Home than when at this is where Vista the new operating system allows one to keep track of several programs running at once with a task bar icon that causes Small copies of each screen to Cascade across the combined with translucent window make using a web an email a word processor and a music or video player at the same time Easi it also bursts at the seams with new wrinkles on stuff such As Dis playing photos and making Home Exchange rates military rates euro costs May Dollar buys May British Pound May japanese yen May South korean won May commercial rates Bahrain British Canada China Denmark Egypt Hong Kong Hungary Israel Japan Kuwait Norway Philippines Poland saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey new military Exchange rates Are those available to customers at military Bank ing facilities in the country of issuance for South the Netherlands and the United for no local currency Exchange rates purchasing British pounds in Germa Check with your i Cal military Bank ing commercial rates Are inter Bank rates provided for reference when buying All figures Are foreign currencies to one except for the British which is represented in and the which is precious metals new York merc close Gold Silver interest rates prime discount rate Federal funds Market rate 3month 30year sources the associated Bank of America ask Jim Jim Coates in vistas display Down the righthand Side of the desktop shows the time and Date in legible sizes and provides  weather traffic Stock sports Vista also is prettier than windows up be cause of better screen Sav improvements in the Start menu and other aes thetic i would not worry about whether to wait be cause Vista will be re paired Over time As it is hardwired to connect to Microsoft own servers and download patches and updates As the company deems necessary in the so your Vista up dilemma is whether to go through the bother figure at least two or three hours of using the upgrade disks or to just stick with the familiar and serviceable windows i Hope that my answer conveyed the idea that a Vista upgrade from a satisfactorily running windows up machine is no big Deal either As my dear old dad used to Tell Knock yourself i keep getting what is evidently a drive related Blu screen error the problem is that it Doest hang around for More than two or three seconds be fore the computer there i cant read the message to get any information As to what is causing the is there some software that will log the error message so i can read it after the computer reboots Robert Bernardez what you need is one of the control panels built into windows called the management this tool is designed for sys tem tech support experts and other ordained win Dows but its the ticket in your unusual there is a module called event viewer in this control panel that keeps a running log of major actions by the operating and users can order a text file printed to list each event in the order it happened in your Case a Blue screen of so Click on then control panel and administrative open that icon and youll get an other Cluster of including one for event you probably can just go through the log files that already have been made to find your error or you can wait until the next time your machine Cocks out to make the event More because it will be at the top of the the event viewer actually Cre ates logs for about a Hal dozen including be system and so each of these categories has a number of logs attached to it under subhead i suspect you will find the Cul Prit under the application head so Click it open and you will find the Long list of including some with a red x and labelled give the most recent one of these a double lick and youll get a Popup with details of what caused the you then can take some kind of such As removing the Driver you suspect and then reinstall ing whatever piece of equipment it was supposed to run got a question on personal technology Send a note to Jim Coates at ask Jim . Questions can be answered Only through this and sensibility if Money tip of the Day after a fender Bender by Marshall Loeb Market watch new York what do you do when youre in a fender Bend or or other car Accident if the first thing that comes to mind is a four letter take a deep keeping a Cool head in the face of an Accident is important if you want to save yourself some hassle and Cash in the of follow these five Steps from the editors of consumer reports to minimize further damage and expenses move your car out of the traffic if you turn on your Hazard get out of your car and stand at a Safe distance away from the vehicle while you talk to the other Drivers or wait for the Check yourself and other passengers for its easy to miss or Overlook an so do a thorough once Over and get medical attention if Call the its a Good idea to get the police especially if there is a lot of dam when you meet with the to get the officers name and Contact dont leave the Accident site until you have the Accident report number for future if there Are other Drivers in be sure to get the follow ing information from each of them phone Drivers License num License plate number and insurance if there Are get their Contact As keep a record of anyone with this is just information gather ing dont argue Over who is at fault or admit say the editors at take if you have a cellphone this is where it comes in get pictures of the if there Are no Camer As draw a diagram illustrating the positions of each