@Kneegrow wrote:I appd to NFCU
Its ok that there are 40+ real Ficos out there but MyFico re-assured me that THIS ONE is the real Equifax score, that if appd for a CC and the creditor pulls Equifax, the score I have in my membership is the one they'd see.. I have the proof that is not true
You can find every excuse out there that creditors used an "enhanced" version, add Beacons, etc etc.
In the end, this is just like any other credit monitoring service where your score is close to the real one, could be above or below, just use it as a point of reference like you would any other service. And don't worry, I'm not cancelling my membership just yet.
I get a kick out of the mandatory thread like this every month. sigh..
This score here is far more accurate than virtually any other service I know of. This from a guy who maintains about 100 bucks a month just in credit monitoring between my wife and I.
No one FICO score is going to be 100% accurate with all lenders because if your a lender, why on earth would you want that information readily available? I wouldn't. I'd want something close though so people would apply still, but different enough that I would be able to bump interest here and there as I saw fit. So lenders all use some sort of customized adaptation of the Beacon or TU08 or any one of the five other variations.
For example, yesterday when my Discover IT arrived, the paper work that arrived with it advised that they pulled Equifax and that my "FICO" (yes they called it FICO by name) is 779. If my score was 779 then GREAT! but I think thats too high. Its 750 and that makes sense to me.
Additionally, MYFICO has one thing that is well worth the price of admission and that is these forums. The knowledge here has served me extremely just in the short time I have been here.
OP, just like you can buy a manufacturers car "with options", so can a creditor buy a FICO score model "with options". So if I buy a Ford Taurus with navigation, and let's just assume for the sake of arguement that you are under the impression that every Ford Taurus sold has navigation, and you happen to buy one without navigation, are you going to say that the Ford Taurus you own is a fake? Well its pretty much the same logic applied here for FICO scores.
A creditor can choose to use the same FICO model sold here or they can choose to buy a FICO model that includes "options". When you buy a car, many creditors use an auto-enhanced score so the scoring is based more heavily on how you paid your previous loans than your other credit. Some creditors issuing CC's use a credit-enhanced score that is based more heavily on how you paid your credit cards, length of history, AAoA, etc.
However since we are talking about NFCU, which is really hot here on these boards, this is the first time that I have heard that the scores differ. At least I know for sure my own apps with NFCU resulted in the exact score listed here for me. One thing I can say is that sometimes myFICO does not update instantaneously. It has taken a lag of about 24 hours before with me once a change is made before I am notified. When did you apply with NFCU?
Can this thread just die, its a FICO score simple as that!
NFCU FAN CLUB FAN#1
@bs6054 wrote:
@Rhaeny wrote:OP, just like you can buy a manufacturers car "with options", so can a creditor buy a FICO score model "with options". So if I buy a Ford Taurus with navigation, and let's just assume for the sake of arguement that you are under the impression that every Ford Taurus sold has navigation, and you happen to buy one without navigation, are you going to say that the Ford Taurus you own is a fake? Well its pretty much the same logic applied here for FICO scores.
A creditor can choose to use the same FICO model sold here or they can choose to buy a FICO model that includes "options". When you buy a car, many creditors use an auto-enhanced score so the scoring is based more heavily on how you paid your previous loans than your other credit. Some creditors issuing CC's use a credit-enhanced score that is based more heavily on how you paid your credit cards, length of history, AAoA, etc.
However since we are talking about NFCU, which is really hot here on these boards, this is the first time that I have heard that the scores differ. At least I know for sure my own apps with NFCU resulted in the exact score listed here for me. One thing I can say is that sometimes myFICO does not update instantaneously. It has taken a lag of about 24 hours before with me once a change is made before I am notified. When did you apply with NFCU?
But..., I don't think that is quite the analogy. It's more the person selling the OP the car without navigation is saying "This is the only real Ford Taurus" and then he discovers that some come with nav.
The issue comes from Fico Marketing (cheered on by loyalists here) that it's "The Score that Matters" (see bottom of each page). It's the score lenders see, except when it isn't.
I agree with this. It can be worded differently marketing wise but most consumers don't know the difference anyway so they feel its legit. Even on FAKO sites.
+1 to tcbofade's comments.
The EQ fico here is definitely not a FAKO. I recently apped for a mortgage with 2 different lenders. The EQ fico they both pulled matched exactly with what I was provided here. TU didn't match because most mortgage lenders use TU04 and not TU98 which is provided here. As stated, CCCs and auto loan lenders use various different types of enhanced in house scoring that weights a particular type of trade line higher than the standard fico weighting.
So it was very nice to be able to keep track of my real fico EQ score during the mortgage process.
The EQ fico here is definitely not a FAKO. I recently apped for a mortgage with 2 different lenders. The EQ fico they both pulled matched exactly with what I was provided here. TU didn't match because most mortgage lenders use TU04 and not TU98 which is provided here. As stated, CCCs and auto loan lenders use various different types of enhanced in house scoring that weights a particular type of trade line higher than the standard fico weighting.
So it was very nice to be able to keep track of my real fico EQ score during the mortgage process.
One thing is a definite. The scores we can get here are True FICO scores, BUT, when there are 40 True FICO scores to choose from, and we can only get 1 each from the CBs, where lenders can use many, it does devalue (waters down the facts of the number we're looking at) the only score we can buy. Considering the Law, we should almost be given every variant for each CB FICO handles when we buy a score, none should be off limits really. We get the used "Consumer" FICO. There should be only one score used per CB.
I still wouldn't app for anything going on a NON-FICO (FAKO) score. So I buy the FICO-"FAKO" being it's the most representative. I say that in that "Ficos are like a box of chocolates, you never know what a lender's going to pick" 
It really boils down to facts on a report. Score is just a starting point, or like an educated guess. And to be honest, you don't have to go through FICO to get factual reports. I subscribe to SW but it's over priced for what they provide, to be frank about it. I also pay for EX-direct, only because it keeps me informed daily about what's going on with that report (and I got a discount, I wouldn't pay over 10$ a month for it). With SW I don't need TRU credit from TU (whatever they call it, had it for a while).
Have to say, even with all the different ways FICO and FAKOs calculate scores, and the different lowest and highest numbers. The RANGE still usually matches, Poor-Good-Excellent across all of them.
