What is Vantage score???

[rosa29617]

I ordered my credit report from Experian; I also wanted my credit score but Experian does not provide a fico score, it offers the VANTAGE score. Does anyone know about the Vantage score? Is it similar to the fico score? Does Fico scoring not exist in Experian's system at all? Do creditors pull the Vantage score when they check a person's credit from Experian?

[llecs]

Vantage differs from FICO in many ways. Most notably, the score range differs. FICO classic scores (like on here) range from 300-850. Vantage goes from 501 to 990 if I recall correctly. Within the formula, Vantage doesn't consider AU accounts, while FICO does. Other items like AAoA, inquiries, utilization, collections, and others are all treated differently. You'd go nuts trying to correlate the two. Your FICO can go up and Vantage down for the same event. IMO, ignore the Vantage because lenders really don't use it.

There are other scoring models out there that aren't FICO scores. We call them FAKOs because they try to imitate FICO, but tend to be unreliable as a predictor of risk and lenders typically avoid them.

There's only a small handful of places you can get your actual FICO score. For EQ, you can get it from your lender, myFICO.com or directly from Equifax.com (FICO and EQ partnered up). You can get your TU FICO from your lender, myFICO.com or from transunioncs.com (note the -cs). Finally, as of last year, Experian no longer allows consumers to pull their own FICO score, but you can still get it from your lender or from a CU in PA called PSECU if you happen to have their checking account. Any other scores from any other source are not FICO scores.

If a mortgage lender pulls EX to check your credit, in all likelihood they are using FICO's formula to calculate a FICO score from EX's data. Some lenders, like CCCs, will use their own formula to calculate a score or risk and may factor in stuff like income (ex. Amex). Some, like auto lenders, will often use an enhanced, industry-specific FICO score. I can't think of any lenders that use Vantage, but I'm sure there are some out there somewhere.

[Lel]

The Vantage Score is a distinct and propietary credit scoring system that was developed by the credit bureaus, not by Fair Isaac.  It uses an entirely different scoring scale - 501-990 - than the FICO scoring scale (300-850).  Your Vantage Score has little predictive value in terms of estimating your FICO score.  You might be able to make a guessimate about the range in which your FICO score might fall (e.g. if your Vantage Score is "above average", you FICO might be in the above average range as well).  However, in my only experience with Vantage vs FICO score, there was no correlation.

Experian FICO scores certainly do exist, and creditors still use them far more than they use the Vantage Score.  Unfortunately, EX FICO scores are not readily available to consumers, except for members of a specific credit union in Pennsylvania and from a couple other sources.

ETA: scooped by llecs!

Message Edited by Lel on 03-10-2010 08:35 AM

[smallfry]

Some people do buy this score even though it is not a FICO score. Some think you can multilply this number score by .85 to approximate your true EX FICO. Mine I think is close using this computation. Their model seems to weigh an open mortgage and high available credit limits more than FICO. I would never buy it again.

[rosa29617]

Thanks guys! I ordered the Vantage score because EX is the only bureau which I do have a recent score. When I was considering a mortgage in Oct 2009, a broker pulled my scores from all three bureaus. My EX score (627) was close to my EQ score (628). So, now that I know that the Vantage score is not very reliable, I believe I can assume my EX score with fall pretty much the same as the EQ score.

[Anonymous]

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@rosa29617 wrote:

I believe I can assume my EX score with fall pretty much the same as the EQ score.

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Well, you can assume your EX score was pretty much the same as your EQ last October. 

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean they will be pretty much the same moving forward.  They may, or possibly, may not.  Would be nice if that was an absolute, though.........For example, I just lost two accounts on my EQ report, but EXP is still holding on to them.  I lost 15 pts on EQ - but it's doubtful that my EXP fell.  And my EQ and EXP are fairly different to start with.  DH's EX & EQ have quite a bit of difference - about 70 points or so.

What we've come up with, is that we watch our EQ because we can.  We check TU occasionally (very few pull TU for us).  And we try to behave ourselves, knowing good behavior is generally well accepted by FICO.

[rosa29617]

Good advice BeamMeUp!

[Anonymous]

https://www.creditkarma.com/ its free and gives you your vantage score