Question about FICO scoring

Anonymous · ‎03-03-2011

I just signed up for quarterly fico reports. My first report said Trans Union. Will this report always come from Trans Union and how accurate is this score compared to the other two agencies? Thank you!

RobertEG · ‎03-04-2011

If what you are getting is a true FICO score, no score from any CRA is any more "accurate" than another.

FICO scores you get from each CRA are different for two reasons. First, the data in your credit file may be different with each CRA. Second, even with totally identifical data at each CRA, you will still get some variation in FICO score. Each CRA licenses its own flavor of FICO scoring algorithm from Fair Isaac, emphasizing slightly different things. According to Fair Isaac, with identical data at each CRA, the scores should vary by less than 20 points between CRAs.

llecs · ‎03-04-2011

@Anonymous wrote:
I just signed up for quarterly fico reports. My first report said Trans Union. Will this report always come from Trans Union and how accurate is this score compared to the other two agencies? Thank you!

I've used FICO Quarterly Monitoring in the past and it's a great product if you are pulling your reports every 3 months and are looking to get your TU FICO score and report at a decent discount. IMO, the word "monitoring" should be removed from the product since it doesn't monitor your TU FICO score like ScoreWatch does for EQ, but it is great for monitoring TU for potential ID theft and good for getting future TU reports at a discount. This product will display when your next report is available....give it a half-day beyond that before it automatically appears.

Like Robert mentioned, you'll have 3 different FICO scores and one is no more important to the other, IMO, since lenders will pull one report, two, or all three in the course of applying for credit. Other companies sell scores, but they aren't FICO scores and lenders predominantly use FICO in the decision process. The only way you can get your TU FICO score is via myFICO or from your lender. Seems like there are CU(s) out there that also provide a TU FICO as part of their service.