topic Re: Which one is the "real" EX score? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Which one is the "real" EX score?

diabla — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:07:43 GMT

I'm so confused about all of these scores! A couple weeks ago, I was logged into the EX site viewing my report, and there was a tab that said Score or something to that effect. I believe it was a Vantage Score. So I purchased it for about $8. Now this was within EX, not a third party site. That actually malfunctioned but then I called EX the next day and the CSR read my score to me over the phone and it was 664.

Now today I go to EX and there's a completely different report layout and score available for $1 for a 7 day trial. I paid for it, planning to cancel after I get the score anyway. It says

Your Experian© Score is:(as of 11/8/2012)

600

Again, this is from within EX, but it doesn't say anything about Vantage anywhere. There's no way I dropped over 64 points in two weeks, and I've studied my report to see if there's anything different. Other than a new CC account, there's nothing else.

So which is the real score? If that Vantage score was not real, why was EX selling it?

Re: Which one is the "real" EX score?

diabla — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:18:22 GMT

Apparently this site I was at today is ExperianDirect.com. I have NO idea how I got there! It's got Experian's logo all over the site. I think I got there through Quizzle because I went there to look at my report and I probably clicked to update from there.

It says its part of the Experian family but when you got to Contact Us, it says its ConsumerInfo.com, and says that that's also a part of the Experian family. I see tons of complaints about it overcharging and multiple charging people for that monthly plan. I'm not comfortable with it because it looks totally different than the one I usually go to. I'm cancelling my membership right now just in case.

Re: Which one is the "real" EX score?

llecs — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:30:18 GMT

It's probably a Vantage and PLUS score comparison. And to confuse things, Quizzle offers a different FAKo.

Re: Which one is the "real" EX score?

brother7 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:35:12 GMT

On the myFICO forums, when people refer to "real" credit scores, they usually mean FICO scores because they're the ones used by lenders when making credit decisions.

Experian doesn't make their FICO scores available to the consumer. The only ways that I know of to find your EX FICO score is from a mortgage lender when you apply for a loan and they pull your EX report or through a certain credit union which has a special arrangement with Experian.

In short, neither of the scores you received is a "real", ie FICO, score.

Consumers are able to get their FICO scores from the other 2 credit reporting agencies, TransUnion and Equifax. The most reliable way to get either TU or EQ FICO scores is with myFICO's products, Quarterly Monitoring for TU and Scorewatch for EQ.

Hope that helps.

Re: Which one is the "real" EX score?

diabla — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:44:03 GMT

Ugh, well I don't like that 600 mess. I'm totally going to ignore it! That's why it was only $1! Had me feeling some kind of way all day until I decided to ask on here. I've cancelled now. Going to call tomorrow to make sure they got my cancellation.

Re: Which one is the "real" EX score?

Shogun — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:06:12 GMT

Only way to get your EX FICO is through a lender pull or if you happen to belong to a certain CU in Pennsylvania. All those other scores are just for educational purposes only.