Is FICO score and Credit Score different?

[Anonymous]

I am new to this forum so this may be a stupid question....I recently got my credit scores from Experian, TransUnion and Equafax. My Experian credit score is 801. I asked for a credit limit increase from my AMEX card the following week and was denied. The letter I received from AMEX said I was denied because my Experian FICO score is 656. Does that mean that there is a difference between your credit score and your FICO score?

[DaveSignal]

yes, there is a difference.

FICO is different from Experian PLUS, which uses a different algorithm and different scoring range.  Lenders usually check your FICO score when you apply for credit.

EDIT: although my PLUS scores are usually very close to my FICO scores.  I've never seen more than a 20 point difference, but I have heard of wider ranges of discrepancy.  It is also possible that something negative got put on your experian report in the week it took you to ask for the CLI.

[marty56]

Also when you see that a site offers a credit score, if it doesn't say FICO, then it is what we call here a FAKO score and is really not an indication of what your FICO score would be. 

[Anonymous]

Yea, I guess I paid my $9.99 for the "score" for nothing. My Experian report called my "credit" score a "VantageScore". What's the use in getting the score if it isn't the "right" one?

[Anonymous]

AMEX claimed they checked my FICO score 5 days before I had applied for my credit score.

[llecs]

VantageScore is a FAKO and almost nobody uses them (though there are a few holdouts somewhere). This score goes off a range of 501-990 vs. FICO's 300-850 and factors in stuff that FICO does not and vice-versa.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

AMEX claimed they checked my FICO score 5 days before I had applied for my credit score.

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AMEX will do regular account reviews on your credit reports (usually monthly) and maintains that information in their internal files. The odds are is that the score they gave you was from their last review and they did not pull a new score on the day you requested a CLI. Unless some significant good change occurred in that five day period then a new credit pull would have resulted in the same or closely related score.

There is no easy way to monitor your Experian score from FICO. There are a few limited ways to get it including qualifying for membership in PSECU or applying for credit and having it disclosed. But you can purchase your Equifax and TU FICO scores on this site. And if you know them and what is showing on the credit reports then you can guess what range your EX may be in based on how closely the reported information is to your EX report. If you are unfortunate enough to have one or more negative accounts reported only to EX, well you probably know what SOL means.

As noted above just disregard the scores you get from other sources that are not FICO scores but use the report information to monitor your credit progress or maintenance as the case may be.