No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
I use the Suze Orman MyFICO Kit and it told me that my EQ score is 621 and my TU is 577. I just set up a 3-bureau score and report monitoring service through EQ today and it showed my scores being MUCH lower. There was only like 2 weeks time difference on the pulls. What's the deal? Who's right? I'm frustrated now because I thought my score had drastically improved through myFICO kit, but I'm not sure if it really has. Anyone else experience something like this? Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Hi stelletos,
Your monitoring service through EQ does not provide true FICO scores - they're providing what we call "fako" scores.
I'll quote llecs on this, cuz he lays it out nicely.
"Virtually everyone sells scores, but they are not all FICO scores. If you got scores from the big 3, then very likely 2 or all 3 of them are not FICO scores. Experian and TransUnion do not sell FICO scores on their website. Equifax does sell FICO scores but it is very hidden and difficult to find. It's not on their products page. We call these non-FICO scores, FAKOs, and can easily be as much as a few points to 100+ points off your real FICO when pulled the same day. If it didn't say "FICO" next to the score, then it isn't.
Other companies (e.g. freecreditreport.com, freescore.com, truecredit, creditkarma, Equifax Credit Complete, Quizzle, and dozens of others out there) sell scores, but they are nothing more than gimmicks and lenders don't use them. They do this because they want to avoid paying any fees to FICO and when they say "credit score" people buy it anyway on the assumption that it is a FICO. The scores are off because the formula is different, factors in different things as compared to FICO, and score ranges are different than FICO's (e.g. FICO is 300-850, Vantage is 501-990, PLUS is 330-830, TransRisk is 350-850, and so on)."
Hope that helps!
@Anonymous wrote:Hi stelletos,
Your monitoring service through EQ does not provide true FICO scores - they're providing what we call "fako" scores.
I'll quote llecs on this, cuz he lays it out nicely.
"Virtually everyone sells scores, but they are not all FICO scores. If you got scores from the big 3, then very likely 2 or all 3 of them are not FICO scores. Experian and TransUnion do not sell FICO scores on their website. Equifax does sell FICO scores but it is very hidden and difficult to find. It's not on their products page. We call these non-FICO scores, FAKOs, and can easily be as much as a few points to 100+ points off your real FICO when pulled the same day. If it didn't say "FICO" next to the score, then it isn't.
Other companies (e.g. freecreditreport.com, freescore.com, truecredit, creditkarma, Equifax Credit Complete, Quizzle, and dozens of others out there) sell scores, but they are nothing more than gimmicks and lenders don't use them. They do this because they want to avoid paying any fees to FICO and when they say "credit score" people buy it anyway on the assumption that it is a FICO. The scores are off because the formula is different, factors in different things as compared to FICO, and score ranges are different than FICO's (e.g. FICO is 300-850, Vantage is 501-990, PLUS is 330-830, TransRisk is 350-850, and so on)."
Hope that helps!
Than where can we get our true FICO scores?
@Anonymous wrote:Than where can we get our true FICO scores?
MyFICO.com.
Aside from myFICO, you can also get your EQ FICO from your lender or via www.equifax.com/myfico-products. The only place you can buy your TU FICO is from myFICO, but your lender can also get it for you at a cost of an inquiry. Finally, as of a couple of years ago, Experian blocked consumer access to your EX FICO score. You can't buy it from anywhere but you can get it via your lender.
Aside from the above, all 3 FICOs can also be found on a very rare select group of websites, mostly CUs, whereby they'll provide it as a free service or at a reduced cost. For example, you can get your EX fICO from PSECU. You can get your EQ FICO from DCU. And you can get your TU FICO from Walmart.com if you have an account with them. FICO versions will vary. There are other places too.
You can also get your FICO score if you are denied credit and a FICO was used in consideration of that credit.
This is a discussion of the variety of "credit scores" sold to consumers. Note that many of the "scores" aka FAKOs consumers are sold are not used by any lenders and have little if any solid research or validation behind them. Some however do such as VantageScore, a legitimate score though it's adoption by lenders has been quite limited. Even scores that have been validated over large numbers of consumer files may produce numbers quite different from FICO scores even if arguably they are risk predictive. FICO scores dominate because lenders have extensive experience with them. They (scores by Fair Isaac) were the first developed almost 50 years ago. The, um, "educational scores" developed purely for sale to consumers are generally higher for people with good credit but they vary enormously from FICO scores as well as from other scores that are used by lenders.
This govt. report contains an extensive description of the different scores kicking around and what they are based on as well as a discussion of consumer confusion over "scores." It's worth reading. It also serves to explain why there can be no simple algorithm that can provide a specific, accurate score. It's a statistically derived process that evolves over time and consumer/debt trends.
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Report_20110719_CreditScores.pdf
Here's another study by the Federal Reserve that examines the impact of FICO scores on lending decisions and how the use of credit scores decreases subjective (and possibly biased) lending decisions.
http://www.transunion.com/docs/rev/business/clientSupport/legislativeUpdate/CreditScoreRpt.pdf
@stilettos_and_spitup wrote:
Wow! Thanks so much! I am learning so much about credit scores. I will be canceling my Equifax 3-in-1 Fako score program and will be going with myfico's score watch. Thanks again!
While the scores and advice from Credit Complete (or whatever service you are using) are worthless (IMHO), the report information is still good. I've used them.