FAKOS vs. FICOS- What determines the difference?

[Anonymous]

I am really curious now! I have checked my CR for all 3 CRA every month for the past year. Since reading the forums and noticing the fako vs. fico talk, I decided to pull my CR from myfico the past two months as well. To my surprise, my fakos & ficos have been identical both months. So my question is, does anyone really know what goes into factoring these scores and why would they be different for some people, but the same for someone else?

TU  701

EQ 731

EX  733

Message Edited by useitwisely on 11-19-2007 07:05 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am really curious now! I have checked my CR for all 3 CRA every month for the past year. Since reading the forums and noticing the fako vs. fico talk, I decided to pull my CR from myfico the past two months as well. To my surprise, my fakos & ficos have been identical both months. So my question is, does anyone really know what goes into factoring these scores and why would they be different for some people, but the same for someone else?

TU 701

EQ 731

EX 733

Message Edited by useitwisely on 11-19-2007 07:05 PM

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You're a rare bird! I guess that statistically, it was bound to happen, but I've never read of someone having FAKO's and FICO's match across the board even for one pull.

FICO has a formula, or formulas, I guess, that take the info from your credit report and crunches the data through and spits out a number. There must be different formulas, because I've seen too many examples of absolutely identical credit reports producing different scores for each CRA. My 19-year-old daughter's file is very thin, and everything matches, but her scores are very different.

No one knows what formulas are used for FAKO's, and I'd guess that there are a lot of different FAKO's, not just FAKO-vs-FICO. So once again, that's amazing that yours match up! Heaven knows, mine don't.

[Anonymous]

Each CRA does have a unique FICO formula (with its own name), along with Insurance (Auto and Home), Bank Card (PFICO) and Auto (for car loans) - i think there are 9 total - so 9 formulas not includng the FAKO formulas/scores

Message Edited by Lady_Scarlet on 11-19-2007 10:24 PM

[Anonymous]

Thanks hauling. That is why I'm so baffled. I've read the countless posts and can't recall anyone saying their scores were the same for both. Before pulling my ficos, I just knew I was going to see higher scores based on my fakos. I guess I am that rare and puzzled bird!

[Anonymous]

Thanks Lady_Scarlet for the response.

[Anonymous]

All the wonderful formulas, etc, add up to one thing.  Brilliant marketing on the part of  the statisticians.  Combine scores with that venerated institution, known  as THE LAW,  and you have a queer and quirky combination that spells major headaches for consumers and big bucks for purveyors of credit and all its components.

I got into a major hole from my ex-wife's gambling, and when I found out about her addiction and her "gambling partners,"  she kicked me out, wheelchair, bills, and dignity.

Eight years later I am trying to buy a house and wading through a minefield of credit problems resulting from that little escapade into marriage.  Finally, decided to reach out to the people who seem to know alot about the subject.  This fako-fico thing is a head scratching, enigma with an extra reel (that's four, not three) inside a matrix- Why is my score always 80 points less from fico than eq, tu, and ex? 

One lender says they will take the highest score and throw out the others for a VA loan.  I,m afraid they are behind another credit repair scheme. Scores are Fico 574,  Others 653, 646, 645.    For something that has such a profound effect on the lives of all of us, there must be a better way.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

All the wonderful formulas, etc, add up to one thing.  Brilliant marketing on the part of  the statisticians.  Combine scores with that venerated institution, known  as THE LAW,  and you have a queer and quirky combination that spells major headaches for consumers and big bucks for purveyors of credit and all its components.

I got into a major hole from my ex-wife's gambling, and when I found out about her addiction and her "gambling partners,"  she kicked me out, wheelchair, bills, and dignity.

Eight years later I am trying to buy a house and wading through a minefield of credit problems resulting from that little escapade into marriage.  Finally, decided to reach out to the people who seem to know alot about the subject.  This fako-fico thing is a head scratching, enigma with an extra reel (that's four, not three) inside a matrix- Why is my score always 80 points less from fico than eq, tu, and ex? 

One lender says they will take the highest score and throw out the others for a VA loan.  I,m afraid they are behind another credit repair scheme. Scores are Fico 574,  Others 653, 646, 645.    For something that has such a profound effect on the lives of all of us, there must be a better way.

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It' is very frustrating when folks pull FAKO scores and try to understand why the CRA's and others provide such scores.

In your post, which scores are you referring to?  For example, when you say your FICO is 574 - where are you getting it from?

You have three FICO scores - an Experian FICO, and Equifax FICO and a TransUnion FICO.

These are the scores that count - the ones the lenders pull.

And when you say your others are 653, 646, 645 - where are you getting them from?

If they are non-FICO credit scores they are not the ones the lenders pull, and you don't need to worry about them.

When a lender says he will take the highest (that's unusual, I believe mortgage lenders tend to pull the middle score), they are referring to your middle FICO score.  They do not pull nor do they use fako scores.  So, they'll be looking at your Experian FICO, your Equifa FICO and your TransUnion FICO. 

Ignore the FAKO's (the non-FICO scores) and much of the confusion will evaporate into thin air.

[haulingthescoreup]

wow, a post from 2007...

Keep reading here, wpepper, and you'll find out what you need to know to make your scores show that you're a good credit risk. Although there are some weird and squirrelly factors in scoring, for the most part they're pretty straightforward. Many of us have used the info here to clean up our credit AND our finances.

Ignore the scores that come directly from the bureaus. Lenders aren't using them, except in a very few rare cases.