Experian scores = "FAKOs?" Why can't you access them on myfico.com?

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hm, okay. I don't see the word "plus" anywhere. I'm just stumped because I went to the government-mandated site where you access your free credit report, and the link provided there took me to the Experian site. I was more concerned about the information on the report rather than the number (long story short: it appears a collection is reporting only to TU, if this EX report is legit, and from what you say, it is.)

The info I have in front of me says "Your Experian (copyright symbol) score is: 710.

Oh well, the report is what I wanted. Thanks.

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And it's the report that matters.

But it's pretty sleazy how all the various suppliers of credit reports and credit monitoring are making some bucks off of consumers, who are understandably confused, by selling a score that lenders don't look at.

[Anonymous]

I disagree with you on this, Greg. I went to the "OFFICIAL" site to get your free credit report. I clicked on a link there that took me to the "OFFICIAL" Experian page. I read the thing. I'm not a dummy. I've been reading all I can get my hands on about this topic and I was still confused. The selling of the scores is a racket.

[llecs]

I think Greg is pointing out that many believe that all "credit scores" are FICO scores. Just like pointed earlier by someone somehwere on here this week, not all bandages are Band-aids and not all facial tissues are Kleenexes. Experian (and the other 2, as well as credit monitoring services out there) are capitalizing on this in a big, big way. Everyday we get questions on here on this very subject. Most of it is benign, but I've seen some gut-wrenching posts where the poster relied on the scores from Experian (and elsewhere) and thinking their scores (not known to them those are FAKOs) are high enough, their mortgage lender pulls their FICO and they get denied because their FICOs are 50+ points lower. Even worse is when they fork out $$$ in the process and lose big.

I'll add it since it has not been said....

The only place you can buy your TU FICO score is myFICO.com or your lender.

The only place you can buy your EQ FICO score is myFICO.com, your lender, or any of these three products via www.equifax.com/myfico-products.

Unfortunately you cannot buy your EX FICO from anywhere. A couple of years ago, Experian blocked consumers from accessing your EX FICO score, though you can still buy it from your lender at the cost of an inquiry.

Now you can still get your EX, EQ, and TU FICO from other places as part of a service or benefit. These are very limited and what we know can be found at the bottom of the first post in the CMS Guide found stickied in General Credit TOpics. These include a monthly EX FICO from PSECU. a free EQ FICO from DCU, and a free TU FICO (unknown version) from Wal-Mart. There are others too.

Any other scores from any other souce like freescore.com, freecreditreport.com, creditchecktotal, provacymatters, identityguard, privacyguard, quizzle, creditkarma, truecredit, creditsesame, and dozens of others are all FAKO scores and should be ignored, along with the advice, though the report info is largely OK.

Remember, if it does not say "FICO" next to the score, then it isn't a FICO.

[winstars]

The above post should be a big fat sticky. These questions are asked multiple times here every single day. The part about people being misled about their actual scores to the point of losing money (or the house) is crazy. Just trying to explain to my friends in person about this subject is difficult because of all the BS out there!!!!

[guydiver]

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@winstars wrote:

The above post should be a big fat sticky. These questions are asked multiple times here every single day. The part about people being misled about their actual scores to the point of losing money (or the house) is crazy. Just trying to explain to my friends in person about this subject is difficult because of all the BS out there!!!!

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I totally agree.  I'll bet you $$ to donuts that if you ask 100 random people on the street, less than 5% could tell you what credit score is the most widely used by lenders, much less where to get that score. Ever seen a Fico commercial on TV? Now the TV ads are "Free Credit Score"!  What are people supposed to think? The ads should be illegal, they don't tell people they are "educational" scores. And what the *9^%$!! is a educational score?  You're getting "educated" with bogus/worthless information that you probably had to pay to get in the first place. Why is that legal?  Why don't we have politicians to protect us from these scams?  Now we(or the vast majority of us) can't even get an EX score without a hard pull.  How does Experian get away with that.  Why don't we band together and sue the SOB's so they have to at least sell us our Fico score?  It's a racket the mob would be proud of.

[guydiver]

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@GregB wrote:

It is our responsibility as consumers to investigate a product before purchase.

I've worked as a business consultant in many different industries. I would say the misleading marketing about credit scores is less than most. Also, good information is readily available. Look how easy it was for you to get some good information and how little money you wasted.

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I respectfully disagree.  The VAST majority of marketing ie...TV,radio,print,internet,etc.... is for FAKO credit scores.  And the only good information is on the internet, and you really have to do your homework and work at it to find it. But if you don't know any different, how can you find out the truth? Like trying to find a needle in a haystack when you weren't looking for the needle.  I was absolutely clueless until I found this site years ago, purely by accident I think.  I would say the misleading marketing about credit scores is less than most.  I sure hope not, otherwise we are all being duped a thousand times over on a daily basis and we don't even know it. 
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