topic Equifax scoring vs myfico in General Credit Topics

Equifax scoring vs myfico

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:52:29 GMT

What is the point of getting myfico instead of Equifax? It is the same score, so I don't understand. With Equifax you can update your score everyday.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Walt_K — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:01:59 GMT

Equifax will give you FICO scores but also give you a non-FICO score. Make sure you are getting one of their products that provides a FICO score. I haven't looked at them in a while, so maybe you have already checked that.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:04:56 GMT

Thank you I didn't know that. I guess I will call them and ask them what exactly I'm paying for.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Walt_K — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:16:29 GMT

What's the name of the product?

ETA: http://www.equifax.com/all-products/ Look at the bottom. You'll see the ones that give you a FICO score.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:16:16 GMT

I am not sure I can check. I know I pay 16.95 a month, they give me credit alerts and updates of my credit score. I will check the name of it.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Walt_K — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:18:21 GMT

See edit above. If you can refresh the score every day, I doubt it's a FICO score. It's probably their Equifax Credit Score, which is a FAKO. See the fine print below the products on this page:

http://www.equifax.com/compare-products/

"Unless otherwise noted, any credit score provided as part of the products described herein makes use of the Equifax Credit Score. Click here to view products that feature the FICO® Score"

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:20:02 GMT

Its the complete Equifax advantage score.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:22:57 GMT

Can I ask them to change that? I just got a discover card and they sent me my FICO score with it. The FICO score was higher then the Equifax.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Walt_K — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:23:57 GMT

Not a FICO score. Use it for the reports but ignore the score and ignore the advice that comes with it about how to improve your score.

For a credit monitoring service, it's not bad, but there are probably some cheaper options. I like eliminateidtheft.com. It allows daily pulls for all three reports. I signed up for the plan for $180 per year by paying it all at once and it allows for my wife to pull as well. So basically $15/month for both me and my wife to pull all three every day.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:25:49 GMT

Oh, that's great advice thank you.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:35:08 GMT

I just looked at that site, so that is just for safeguarding? Your saying to best know your score is to get it here? I don't like transunion. They don't offer anything else for a reasonable price. The 4.95 every quarter is fine but besides that 20.00 every time is crazy.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Walt_K — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:53:57 GMT

I use eliminateidtheft primarily just to have access to my credit reports, the information in the reports, not the score. The alerts and id theft prevention measures are an added plus.

For FICO score, when I was rebuilding and was trying to keep track of where I was, I had Scorewatch and TU Quarterly monitoring. Once my scores got to around 700, I dropped Scorewatch because I didn't think it was worth it to know every time my score changed. Once a quarter was good enough for me with the TU Quarterly monitoring. Now, I don't pay for that either because I don't really need to know my score. I have a pretty good idea of what it is, and so long as I keep an eye on the information on my reports, I can reasonably predict what is happening with my score. Plus, I'm not planning on purchasing anything large anytime soon having just purchased a new home. I might check my FICO next year after my late payments all age to over 5 years, but I'll really be checking it mostly out of curiousity more than anything else. In my opinion, once you get out of rebuilding, there's no real need to keep a constant watch on your scores. If you're paying your bills on time, and you're not maxing out your credit lines, your scores mostly take care of themselves.

Another option is to apply for the Walmart credit card. They give you a TU score for free every month. It is TU08, which is not what most lenders use. But the score you get here is TU98, which is also not what most of them use. Most use TU04, and I don't believe there is any way to get that other than through a lender.

Re: Equifax scoring vs myfico

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 22:00:22 GMT

I didn't see the link for the FICO score from Equifax. Thank you.