Old FAKO score

[MattH]

My town had an Electronics Recycling and Paper Shredding day this morning, so in addition to getting rid of an old computer in a responsible manner I also took some no-longer needed financial records such as 1999 tax forms.  Anyway, while selecting old papers to shred I came across a credit report from May 2001 with a CreditXpert Credit Score of 791.  Back then I did not know the difference between FAKO and FICO scores.  Before taking it off to be shredded I read the fine print; it does not say anything false, but like much lawyer-written fine print although it stays within the law it's clearly intended to mislead by giving the impression that the FAKO score has actual significance -- and it certainly did mislead me nine years ago.

[fused]

and, they still mislead tens of millions of Americans to this day.

[RobertEG]

I dont defend the marketing of non-FICO scores, but neither do I oppose them.  There are two sides to the coin. So, playin devil's advocate for a moment. they have their place.

A free market relies on non-monopolistic competition.  Credit scoring is a business that relies on trade secret scoring algorithms.  Each business who markets credit scoring algorithms claims to be a better predictor of credit default than the others.  No one can objectiely evaluate whether one is better than the other. 

The decision of which is "better" does not rely on any objective merits of their scoring, but rather upon which scoring algorithm most creditors choose to purchase and use in their credit decisions.  FICO was the first in the market, and is clearly the longest and most widely used.  No one can dispute that.  But does that make them a "better" product, or lead one to brand competitor products with the nomer of being "FAKO's?"

Sure, maybe the non-FICO marketers of scores rely upon consumer ignorance between their score and ones marketed by Fair Isaac, but as long as they dont use the registered copyright of FICO in their reporting, I dont see how to regulate their ability to conduct their legitimate business. The FCRA, to date, has chosen not to regulate credit scoring.

Non-FICO scores do have signifiance if a creditor chooses to use them.

[MarineVietVet]

I posted this on May 16th and I stand by it.

No arrows Robert but you've been around here long enough to know that they are called FAKO because lenders for the most part do not use them to make lending decisions. Have you personally ever applied for credit and had the lender pull a Plus score or a VantageScore? Therefore they ARE useless and for companies to sell them to people knowing they are useless is just wrong.

And misleading.

From a BK years ago to:
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
4/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Credit Scoring 101
Common Abbreviations
Frequently Requested Threads
Whats In Your FICO Score

[fused]

True, true!!!!

[RobertEG]

Marinevet, thanks for the comments.  I generally agree.  Your comments are very well taken, and as fused has said, true!!!

I am not defending the marketing of non-FICO scores, at all, just trying to show the legal improbabilty of regulating it. . I agree that they are rarely used by creditors and lendors, so I dont think we have any real grounds of disagreement on the facts.

Yes. they may rely on consumer ignorance of what a credit score is,. who produced it. and  most importantly,who even uses it.

My only point is that there is no legal fraud or deception.  Marketing of almost anything in this country is based on distraction of consumer knowledge from the real facts.

Everyone's product is the best.   I know of no way to regulate consumer knowledge of products before they purchase them.  That was my only point.

Congress has apparently agreed. becasue they have passed no substantive legislation regulatiing credit scoring, or its marketing, other than U.S. copyright law, which prohibits anyone other than Fair Isaac from using the designation FICO(c)

[Anonymous]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

I posted this on May 16th and I stand by it.

No arrows Robert but you've been around here long enough to know that they are called FAKO because lenders for the most part do not use them to make lending decisions. Have you personally ever applied for credit and had the lender pull a Plus score or a VantageScore? Therefore they ARE useless and for companies to sell them to people knowing they are useless is just wrong.

And purposefully and knowingly misleading.

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For the most part, they are making money knowing that people *think* they are getting something different than what they receive.  I believe that is the definition of "crook".