For: budget approver
score-watch.com
Why this subscription pays for itself.
A short note for the person approving the expense report.
What it is
Score Watch is independent research and structured data on the FICO mortgage scoring franchise — the largest single component of FICO's revenue and a critical input to any thesis on the company. The product is comprised of a continuously-monitored dashboard tracking 60 mortgage originators, a live signal feed surfacing every meaningful event from earnings calls, SEC filings, FHFA actions, executive commentary, and trade press, and a structured dataset suitable for direct integration into financial models.
What it replaces
| Current alternative | Time / cost |
|---|---|
| Hand-tracking lender contracts and statements via Twitter, LinkedIn, earnings transcripts, and trade press | 15–25 hours/month of analyst time |
| Building a custom HMDA + EDGAR pipeline internally | $30K+ in engineering setup, ongoing maintenance |
| Bespoke broker-dealer research (where coverage exists) | Trapped behind the broker relationship; lacks structured data |
| Conference calls and expert networks | $1,500–3,000 per call; unstructured output |
Cost-benefit math
Pro tier at $4,995/month is $59,940/year. The breakeven case is straightforward:
- ·Time savings. Replacing 15 hours/month of analyst tracking work at a fully-loaded rate of $250/hour saves $45,000/year. The subscription pays for itself on this metric alone in 13 months.
- ·Position-sizing leverage. If the data shapes a single trading decision per year on a $50M position by 50 basis points, the subscription has paid for itself 4 times over.
- ·Risk reduction. Avoiding one negative surprise on a major position — a contract loss, an unexpected pilot announcement, an FHFA decision — pays for the subscription many times.
Compliance posture
Score Watch publishes only from public sources: HMDA filings, SEC EDGAR, FHFA filings, earnings transcripts, public press, public social posts. The product is structured specifically to be MNPI-clean by construction. The methodology is fully disclosed. Score Watch is not affiliated with Fair Isaac Corporation.
Cancellation flexibility
Monthly billing. Cancel anytime from the account page. No refund for the current period. No multi-year commitment, no minimum term, no auto-escalation. If the product doesn't deliver value, the firm is out one month's fee.
Recommendation
Approve the expense for an initial 90-day period. If the product hasn't justified itself by then, cancel without penalty. The cost of testing is one month's fee; the cost of not testing is the analyst hours we're already spending on this work, plus the position risk we're carrying without this visibility.