Understanding FICO® Scoring

[kobe2012]

Hi, I am very confused with my credit scores. I recently purchased equifax advantage from equifax.com to view my 3 credit scores and they were way low than I expected. I have been trying to rebuild my credit since 01/2011 and have been very anxious to improve my scores. My scores on equifax.com were : EQ:572 TU: 560 and EXP:541... I bought my TU and my EQ scores on this site a month ago and they were: TU:619 EQ:607...my Walmart TU last May was 633 ..... I have two new accounts posted last May... Why are my equifax.com scores so much lower? For someone that has been rebuilding, seeing those scores were just so depressing ..... :-(

[MarineVietVet]

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kobe2012 wrote:
Hi, I am very confused with my credit scores. I recently purchased equifax advantage from equifax.com to view my 3 credit scores and they were way low than I expected. I have been trying to rebuild my credit since 01/2011 and have been very anxious to improve my scores. My scores on equifax.com were : EQ:572 TU: 560 and EXP:541... I bought my TU and my EQ scores on this site a month ago and they were: TU:619 EQ:607...my Walmart TU last May was 633 ..... I have two new accounts posted last May... Why are my equifax.com scores so much lower? For someone that has been rebuilding, seeing those scores were just so depressing ..... :-(

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Hello and welcome.

You have to be very careful what you buy from the EQ website. They sell both FICO and non-FICO (FAKO) scores. All the Equifax "Complete" Plans use the "Equifax Credit Score" which is not a FICO score and is not used by any lenders. So ignore them. They are useless.

You can still buy an EQ FICO score from the EQ website here. That EQ FICO is the same version (Beacon 5.0) sold here.

Edited for a typo.

[kobe2012]

Thank you for your response....i have been addicted on checking my scores the past few months... And got approved for a walmart card and a chevron gas card...I have at least 5 inquiries the past two months and i was thinking that was the reason for low FAKO scores... But could FAKO scores be atleast +/- 50 points off the real fico scores?

[marty56]

There is really no way to compair FAKO/FICO scores.  Even a change in one could have no change or the oposite effect in the other. 

[llecs]

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kobe2012 wrote:
... But could FAKO scores be atleast +/- 50 points off the real fico scores?

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Absolutely! I recorded one at 225 pts off when compared the same day. Now it's only 60 points off. And that despite having a near-similar score range too.

[kobe2012]

Wow 225 points difference... Im hoping that my real fico is 100 points more!... Lol..well, as long as my real fico scores are higher than my FAKO's, i'll be very happy