@Anonymous wrote:
since it's a non-completely-accurate score?
People misuse accurate quite a bit here. Any score is accurate but only for its own model. If you take the exact same data and run it through the exact same scoring model you will get the same number. The score always hits its intended target and is therefore always accurate. The thing is that different scoring models exist to serve different purposes. Different models will weigh factors differently. The problem comes in when people assume that one score should be accurate when compared to a different score. If the models vary then they will not have the same intended targets.
You cannot use a score generated by one model to determine the score generated by a different model. Different models use different algorithms and one should expect different algorithms to produce different results. The results will not have a fixed offset or even necessarily trend in the same direction for a given situation. The variance between models can change depending on the specifics of a given situation. It is possible for two different models to be coincidentally close or even generate the same number but one should always keep in mind that coincidental and causal are not the same thing.
Even with FICO there a number of models used by creditors (see the Understanding FICO Scoring subforum and its stickies) and one cannot assume that they will generate the same number using the same data. Not all FICO models are even on the same point scale.
If you're going to rely on numbers then make sure you understand the CRA used as a data source, the date that the data was pulled and the specific scoring model used as these all have a potential impact on the number generated.
@Anonymous wrote:
It's just a term that was made up to describe any score that isn't a Fico score.
This. There are some that use it specifically for scores that are only attempting to replicate a FICO but in general use it means any non-FICO score as FICO is still the industry standard even if some creditors use VantageScore.
VantageScore isn't intended to replicate a FICO model but to replace FICO as the industry standard.
