Fico Simulator is it really worth it? is it accurate? have you used Fico Simulator?

[RED_Knives]

I see that Fair issac corp is offering simulated fico scores through the purchase of your credit score from the three credit companies. Is this purchase worth it? will the simulator work accurately and is it necessary? Seems like a pretty cool feature to me. I have been accurately prediciting my own credit score this past couple months although there where a few surprises and I would like to minimize the unknown as much as possible. 

if any of you have actually used the software or have any recommendations of alternative software please let me know.

Best Regards,

RED Knives

[takeshi74]

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@RED_Knives wrote:

I see that Fair issac corp is offering simulated fico scores through the purchase of your credit score from the three credit companies.

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Wording is a little vague but to clarify the purchase is through FICO.  FICO's are based on the data in the reports from the CRA's but FICO's are not purchased from the CRA's.

[RobertEG]

Yes, they are accurate, as they are based on the actual FICO scoring algorithm.

The real issue is not one of accuracy, but rather one of specificity.

The simulator intentionally does not permit one to input very specific changes, such as the deletion of one collection, and see the resulting score based only on that change.

Rather, changes are shown over a period of time, and include the additional affects of all other changes, such as account aging.

To provide a detailed, single event simulator that showed today score change would vastly improve the ability to reverse engineer the algorithms.

Protection of their trade secret algorithm is paramount to offering simulations.

It is good for what it does, but clearly has limitations.

You may find more detailed simulators that perport to simulate scores based on single changes, but they do not produce their results using the actual FICO algorithm.

[RED_Knives]

thats interesting. I was thinking yeah if the simulator had too much variables to change that someone should reverse engineer it. I find it odd that they don't want us knowing exactly what our scores can be at any given time. People can maybe get close to guessing but they really wanna keep this a secret. Also market flux would change how some people are rated. Perhaps one year a lot of people pay on time and another year not so much maybe due to economic problems the country is facing.

[RobertEG]

Fair Isaac is not concerned with keeping your score a secret, as they wlll, through theiir licensees, be more than happy to give a currrent score.

They are concerned with protection of their trade secret, and thus preserving their business.

If another were able to duplicate their algoritms, they could sell the same product at a lower price.

When anyone has an invention, they have two choices.  They can apply for and obtain a patent, or they can choose to keep their invention as a trade secret.

Patnets have the advantage of providing them the exclusive right to their invention for 14 years, even if anther produces theri inventon, but at the price that their patent must fully disclose the invention, thus permitting anyone to make, use or sell the invention once the patent has expired.  Patents are (normally) not renewable.

To apply for a patent, they must do so within one year of putting their product on sale.  After that, no chance at a patent.

Trade secrets have the advantage that, theoretically, they can remain secret forever, and require no public disclosure of how of how to make the invention.

However, the risk is that someone could reverse engineer or otherwise independtly develop the invention, as long as they did not illegally obtain the information by violating disclosure prohitions under trade secret law..  They rely on the fact that others wont be able to independently produce theri invention.

Fair Isaac chose the trade secret route, and thus has an overriding concern of not providing detailed information that would jeopardize their trade secret investment.

[AndySoCal]

Most simulators will give a possible range for the increase. In some cases there is a time period for the increase to take affect.   My experience is that increase usually fall some where in the middle of the range.  I would suggest  be prepared for the lowest increase possible and anything above that is a bonus.

[RED_Knives]

whats a low increase in your book? are you just saying lower your standard and I wont be disapointed? 

[AndySoCal]

The simulator will give you a score range let us say 675 to 725 for example. Most of time the increase is somewhere in the middle like 695 in my experience.  I would expect at least 675 and be happy with anything above that number. Some people expect the high end of the range and are upset when it is not.  I guess the short answer would have been yes to your last post.