Alliant: Changes to Free Credit Score

[Anonymous]

Alliant used to offer a quarterly FICO NextGen score to members, but this has changed starting this month.

The new score offered is only a FAKO -- the Vantage score. 

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New & Improved – VantageScore®

Alliant is now offering members free of charge their "VantageScore®", a credit score which was developed using information from the three major credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. The VantageScore offers some distinct advantages, including providing credit scores to a larger population of members and consistency across the three major credit reporting companies. Unfortunately, for a short period of time, there will be no trending (historical) data, but going forward updates will be added so historical trending data can be monitored.

There are many different scoring systems with different scales; a "good" credit score depends on the scoring system. The credit score displayed here is VantageScore®. It was developed by the three national credit reporting companies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). Unlike other scoring models, the VantageScore® uses one set of calculations for all three bureaus, resulting in a more uniform and consistent score. This model weighs your payment history, credit utilization, outstanding balances, depth of credit, recent credit, and available credit to calculate your credit score.

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[TryN2Rebuild]

I just logged in and the score they are showing took a nose dive from what they showed last quarter. What a bummer.

[Anonymous]

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@ewingerter wrote:

I just logged in and the score they are showing took a nose dive from what they showed last quarter. What a bummer.

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That's because last month they used a completely different scoring system.

They used to use the FICO NextGen score, but as of this month's update (which just happened yesterday) they are using the FAKO garbage score pushed by Experian and the other flunkies called Vantage Score. 

[TryN2Rebuild]

So does this score really not count? I an with USAA and have the credit monitoring service and they are also giving me the same score. So the question is there a reason to keep the USAA credit monitoring since it is the same FAKO score?

[Anonymous]

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@ewingerter wrote:

So does this score really not count? I an with USAA and have the credit monitoring service and they are also giving me the same score. So the question is there a reason to keep the USAA credit monitoring since it is the same FAKO score?

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The advantages with USAA's credit monitoring is that you can get all three credit reports and a FAKO from each of the three.  Alliant's FAKO is only from Experian.

Plus, USAA's FAKo is, I believe, a Plus Score.  Alliant's a Vantage Score.  All FAKOs but different flavor of FAKO.

[Anonymous]

I logged into Alliant earlier this week and noticed that DH got a very lovey score bump but I was in a hurry and didn't click on it to read the details - sorry to hear that they've switched to FAKO Vantage which is readily available, absolutely meaningless (at best) and frustratingly deceptive. 

Rats! 

[happy0510]

I just logged on and quickly came over here.  Boo!!!

Now, this means I can't view my EX at all anymore!! 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I logged into Alliant earlier this week and noticed that DH got a very lovey score bump but I was in a hurry and didn't click on it to read the details - sorry to hear that they've switched to FAKO Vantage which is readily available, absolutely meaningless (at best) and frustratingly deceptive. 

Rats! 

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You should go on over to the Alliant forum in your online banking and voice your opinion. 

[Anonymous]

I guess I should not be surprised by the following lame response showing Alliant's justification for changing from a FICO NextGen to a worthless FAKO VantageScore, but I did expect better of Alliant.

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Thank you for your feedback and question about why we don't offer a "real FICO" score. The answer has to do with our intent in offering credit scores. Our mission is to help our members achieve their financial goals. To that end, we offer market leading rates on deposits and loans, 24/7 live member care, financial counseling, retirement and investment services and online financial education tools, one of which is a credit score. We offer credit scores to our members, at no charge, to help them assess their credit and financial health, not so they can know exactly what a particular score is or will be at the time they apply for a loan, a job or insurance. We feel the VantageScore, which was developed by the three leading credit reporting agencies, can give members a consistent view of their credit and financial health, and when used in conjunction with our market leading rates, 24/7 member care, financial counseling and advisory services that they have the tools, the products and services to achieve their financial goals. We recognize and appreciate your opinion on credit scores and will consider it as we're continually looking to improve the products and services we offer our members.

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Looks like it's time to switch over to PSECU.

[castlefox]

Alliant didnt offer a FICO score before, it was a fako score.  I know that because it was out of 950.

It was a Advanced Risk Score 2.0 (NextGen) or whatever that means

Its free so its hard to complain with free.     I only find it useful if it went down by a lot becuase I forgot about some debt somehow.

I plan on getting my FICO score the next time my FAKO score gets updated.  Im courious how they will compair.