BoA Fico Score (TransUnion)

[SMikulski49]

BofA started showing me my TransUnion fico Score. I was just wondering how accurate is this score, is the the fico score I would get here at myfico.com website or is it some other score they generate?

Thanks in advance

[Anonymous]

Sorry I can't help with your question, but I have been waiting to see my TU FICO from BOA.  Where do you find it on the website? 

TIA!

[Anonymous]

Fico 08, same as Discover, Barclays, CCT, and here at MyFico.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Where do you find it on the website? 

TIA!

Yes, where did you find it?  I've looked everywhere on the BOA site.

[Anonymous]

Does the OP (SMikulski49) live in Georgia or Pennsylvania?  Those two states started receiving their score through BOA several weeks ahead of the other 48 states.  The last I heard, the rest of the country was going to get it at the end of March.

[takeshi74]

I'm not with BofA but ran across this screenshot.  Note the text in the bottom right "Your FICO Score 8 based on TransUnion data".  A FICO 8 is a FICO 8 regardless of where you get it from.  It's the same scoring model.  As long as the data used each time to generate the score didn't change then the numbers generated will be the same.

---

@SMikulski49 wrote:

I was just wondering how accurate is this score

---

Stop relying on "accuracy" and instead think of relevance.  There isn't just one scoring model used by creditors/products.  Most use a FICO model.  While FICO 8 is the most commonly used model it is not used by all creditors/products.  Scores also don't all use the same CRA as a data source.  Therefore you need to consider both the model & CRA whenever you reference a score and consider who and what it is relevant to.

If, for example, a creditor uses an EQ FICO 8 Bankcard then a TU FICO 8 (or any other model or CRA) won't be relevant.  See also the Understanding FICO Scoring subforum and its stickies for more info on the various FICO models used by creditors.  myFICO doesn't provide just one score either.  The alerts/updates are FICO 8's but quarterly access is provided to additional models.

Any score is accurate but only for its own model.  You cannot use a score generated by one model to determine a score generated by another model or decide on the "accuracy" of a model by comparing it to another.  Different models use different algorithms that evaluate report data differently and can even have different score ranges.  Don't assume that all models should produce the same numbers.

[SMikulski49]

I live in PA maybe that is why I am able to view it. When I log in into my account, I can see a little box to the right where it says check your score, you wont miss it if you can view it. I understand that different modles use different algoriths, I guess I worded my question wrong. I was wonderibg if its a true TransUnion score or some type of a score like creditcarma provides where no lender uses it. But I understand it more now thanks to your good explonation.

[Anonymous]

Well that's the thing buddy.  Even the TU score you get from Credit Karma is a true TransUnion score.  It is a score that is really drawn on true TransUnion data.

The big idea is that there are these three silos or warehouses for your credit information: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax.  They just hold the information, and the information you have at one might well be a little different from than the information at either of the other two.  These three warehouses are called credit bureaus and are also called consumer reporting agencies

Then there are people who make big fancy computer programs that take all that information and spit out a number (often a number between 300 and 850).  That number is called a credit score and the computer program is called a computer scoring algorithm (or sometimes a credit scoring model).  FICO is a company that makes a ton of these models (and therefore tons of different scores).  There's also a company that was created by the three credit bureaus called Vantage and the score they make is called VantageScore.  Each credit bureau also makes its own proprietary credit score.  There are many other companies that make credit scores.

The big idea though is that a credit scoring algorithm (a computer program) takes data from a credit bureau (a big silo or warehouse) and then spits out a credit score (a number).

When you ask if a score is a true TransUnion score, the answer is that all the credit scores that are drawn on TU data are true TU scores.

But what you may have had in mind was this: is the score that I see at Bank of America one of the scores that FICO makes?  And the answer is yes.  BOA is using the FICO 8 Classic algorithm.  Credit Karma (which you also mention) uses the Vantage Score algorithm.  It has the same range as FICO 8 Classic (300-850) but it is made by a different company than FICO.

Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

Im in GA, but no fico yet on my account with the cashrewards card.

[Anonymous]

I live in GA too and got mine in early January.  I had to search for a while to find it.  I encourage you to drill down all the different menus.  Eventually you should find some link about credit.  Or give BOA a call and they will walk you through how to find it.