I've been tracking our (DW & I) FICO score since Aug. 1 and have been tracking FAKO scores since mid-November. I studied two full months: December and January. I looked at FICOs in relation to FAKOs during that time and wanted to know if there was a difference in scores and if so, by how much.
DW's FICOs mostly ran higher than her FAKOs. TU FICO ran as high as 25 between Dec. and Jan., 49 for EX and 54 for EQ. This sounds good on the surface, but if you compared the growth between the two months and over time, TU's FAKOs increased by 7 points. Some folks might feel good with a 7 point gain but during the same period TU's FICOs dropped 9 points!! On EX, FAKOs dropped only 6 points, while FICOs on EX dropped 38 points! And EQs FAKOs dropped 16 points, while EQ's FICOs dropped only 3 points.
My FICOs all are higher than the FAKOs. TU FICO is up to 36 points higher, EX is up to 91 points higher, and EQ is up to 67 points higher. Again, similar situation. Based on growth, my FAKOs went up on TU 5 points higher while FICOs dropped 7 points. EX FAKOs went up 10 points and FICO dropped 18 points! AND EQ's FAKOs soared 25 points while FICO dropped 5!!!
Here's the cliff notes...Don't trust FAKOs. It can give you a false sense of security. If FAKOs go up, it could also mean that your FICOs went down. Info from 5 pulls between 12/1 and 1/31 on both here and on TC.
