FICO scores offered by cards

[NP27]

Hello,

I was wondering if I should use the free FICO offers available through Barclay and Cap one.  Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I have both of these cards. I use them as a idea of where the score is going either up or down. They are Faco scores.

[Gunnar419]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have both of these cards. I use them as a idea of where the score is going either up or down. They are Faco scores.

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Barclays is a genuine FICO from TU. CapOne is a FAKO from TU.

Unfortunately, while the CapOne FAKO is updated once a month, Barclays only updates once every couple of months unless they detect something that they consider a significant event on your credit, and what they consider significant isn't what you might consider significant. For example, one new account is significant to them, but your score could improve by 50 points due to baddies falling off and they wouldn't consider than significant.

In short, both scores are useful but not as useful as monthly FICOs given by some other cards.

[Anonymous]

Maybe.

My Barclay shows 4 points lower than MYFICO.

One or the other is wrong. They both can't be right.

[Gunnar419]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Maybe.

My Barclay shows 4 points lower than MYFICO.

One or the other is wrong. They both can't be right.

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Are you saying Barclay's TU score is 4 points lower than a MyFico TU score? Not a MyFico EQ? (Just trying to clarify.)

However, they can still both be correct. Different pull dates. Different FICO models (I'm not sure which model MyFico uses for TU -- '04? '08?). It's possible for both to be FICOs and both to be different.

In any case, if you look at your Barclays' score you'll see it's a true FICO, not a FAKO.

[IamB2]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Maybe.

My Barclay shows 4 points lower than MYFICO.

One or the other is wrong. They both can't be right.

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If both are TU scores, it could be that your myFico was updated prior to, or after Barclays. Mine are exactly the same when pulled at the same time. I have the 3-in-1 thing from here and each time there is an update in score, it alerts me so the score is the most current one. However, my score keeps fluctuating due to short credit history and new accounts/inquiries. SO it is possible to have different scores based on when Barclay's pulled it. My Walmart FICO is exactly the same as myFico too.

[VirtualCuriosity]

Cap1 Fako appears to be the same model as CreditKarma

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Maybe.

My Barclay shows 4 points lower than MYFICO.

One or the other is wrong. They both can't be right.

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Sure they can.  The three things that can cause scoring differences are the scoring model, CRA used and the dates pulled.  Since Barclay's and myFICO both use the 08 model and TU as the data source for TU scores the discrepancy is due to different data pulled at different times.  Always make sure you understand what you're comparing when making a comparison.

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@VirtualCuriosity wrote:

Cap1 Fako appears to be the same model as CreditKarma

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Both were the TransUnion New Account model but CK recently switched to Vantage 3.0.