any companies that use scores OTHER than fico?

[jdxprs1]

my plus scores from experian look great. my fico scores are terrible. honestly, the plus scores are a LOT more accurate when it comes to the risk of lending me money.

[voidman]

Unfortunately you can not pick n choose your own risk . To be fair, if everyone is risk assessed based on Fico then you would be considered risky relative to others.

[haulingthescoreup]

Kohl's uses the EX Vantage score, or at least they were. I assume that they still are.

One of the peer-to-peer lending outfits uses a Vanatge score, but they tweak it --it's not the straight Vantage score.

Lenders are incredibly slow to change their risk models. We're only starting to see FICO 08, as in 2008, show up.

[jdxprs1]

actually, no offense to the whole credit score scam, but NOBODY knows better than me what what risk level i am. especially not fico. i have a debt to income ratio around 15% with a 6 figure income. according to fico im a deadbeat.

[voidman]

---

@jdxprs1 wrote:

actually, no offense to the whole credit score scam, but NOBODY knows better than me what what risk level i am. especially not fico. i have a debt to income ratio around 15% with a 6 figure income. according to fico im a deadbeat.

---

I am not a fan of Fico, but this is what I understand. And also FICO is only a mathematical model based on statistics. And any statistics has errors, which is called (I think) variance.

Anyway,

15% dept to income ratio is good, but not really good from FICO perspective, coz that perentage can swing to higher side based on Statistics of people from past history. Again that is only statistics, it may not be true to many people.

Also, Fico also tries to model based on history, i.e. how long can you keep the 15% debt and make monthly payment without any problems. It is not based on short term "good picture"

I guess something had gone wrong in the past and looks like you are doing well in coming out of it. Hope things gets much better soon.

[haulingthescoreup]

It's just the fun of statistics. Risk modeling collects data of past consumer behavior and correlates usage patterns (among many other things) with default. The higher the reported util, the more likely the past users were to default. So that drops your scores.

Statistics measure the blob, the aggregate. They can't measure the individual. Back when there was a corner banker who knew your name and handled your business, and your wives played bridge together, and your kids played baseball together, credit decisions could be made on the basis of individual qualities. (And these decisions took a while and cost the banks a ton of money --see Joseph Nocera's A Piece of the Action - How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class for an interesting look back at how it used to be.)

But now, when we've become used to online applications, instant decisions, and approvals from somewhere on the other side of the country, they have to use risk prediction models. Credit scores are one type.

No point in taking it personally. I'm afraid that it's where the world has moved to these days.

[Creditaddict]

I believe Fico is very accurate on conveying to lenders your current situation based on what you have done in the past.  Someone like me who has filed bankruptcy twice... just because now I handle my credit good and don't miss payments, I don't really deserve an 800 credit score like someone who has had credit for 10 years and has never missed a payment, doesn't apply for extensive amounts of credit and has never had bk... I have to earn that back over 10 years.

[Wolf3]

---

@jdxprs1 wrote:

my plus scores from experian look great. my fico scores are terrible. honestly, the plus scores are a LOT more accurate when it comes to the risk of lending me money.

---

American Express uses their own scoring model, primarily from experian. 

As to credit risk:

There are many other risk factors, not accounted for in your FICO score.   Income, job stability, marriage stability, age, education, lifestyle, health, family money to name a few.    It is not practical for CC to take all this into account, although Mortgage lenders take a much closer look at these things

Lets not forget that FICO scores are easily manipulated to get a better score.   The individuals risk level does not change because they carefully control how the utilization reports rather than just paying your bills by the due date, but the score can change a lot.

As to you being the best judge, you may be, but I think many are not.  Many of us had to learn the hard way.   

[marty56]

---

@Wolf3 wrote:

Lets not forget that FICO scores are easily manipulated to get a better score.   The individuals risk level does not change because they carefully control how the utilization reports rather than just paying your bills by the due date, but the score can change a lot.

---

I would argue that being in the position to manipulate your FICO score on the basis of how much and how many cards report a balance is a good indication that you have your financial act together so you deserve a higher FICO score.

For those who have and a lot of CC debt or even a single 5+ year old major derog, it is no so esay to do and an 800 score could still be years away.

[Wolf3]

---

@marty56 wrote:

---

@Wolf3 wrote:

Lets not forget that FICO scores are easily manipulated to get a better score.   The individuals risk level does not change because they carefully control how the utilization reports rather than just paying your bills by the due date, but the score can change a lot.

---

I would argue that being in the position to manipulate your FICO score on the basis of how much and how many cards report a balance is a good indication that you have your financial act together so you deserve a higher FICO score.

For those who have and a lot of CC debt or even a single 5+ year old major derog, it is no so esay to do and an 800 score could still be years away.

---

Lets take someone who has their financial act together and PIFs their accounts by the due date every month.   If they learn how to play the utilization games, they can boost their score signficantly.  But nothing has changed with respect to credit risk.    Since FICO score is a measure of credit risk, it is now evaluating them as better than they really are.  I don't think you deserve a better score because you know how to game the system.