MS. TWOHIG: No. If they just got their credit report. They order their credit report. Would it be so terrible if they see what scores had been calculated on them? Or what are the problems with that?

MR. CRESCENZO: Well, again, what scores? Was it Providian out in San Francisco that believes they have the best analysts and statisticians in the country and, you know, produce scores for their own lending decisions, or are we talking about Chase Manhattan's scores, or are we talking about a FICO score?

MS. TWOHIG: FICO, I think people wanted to know. If it was just a FICO score?

MR. CRESCENZO: It's an issue I'm not going to be able to address today.

Norm Magnuson, vice president of public affairs for Associated Credit Bureaus, said that the effort is "a step in the right direction," so long as E-Loan offers more than just the three-digit score. "The question is, 'How to release the score to the consumer in a useful format?' " he said. "No one has been able to breach that gap."

Mr. Magnuson said that though Associated Credit agrees that consumers should know what their credit report contains and what it means, "the Fico score in and of itself doesn't tell you anything." He said that for E-Loan's service to help the consumer, it must offer more than what is already available - credit reports and the adverse-action explanations, which are given to consumers when they are denied credit.

"I commend them on their efforts," Mr. Magnuson said, "but it comes down to what kind of detail they are giving."