Is Fako scores useless?

[Anonymous]

Is FAKO scores useless?  Reason I am saying this is because I just sigedn up for AMEX CreditSecure and received scores of 707, 741 and 668 (damn you TU).  Looked at my Equifax report of 4/1 and received scores of 650, 640, 620.  I understand that FICO is more important so why the big difference from FAKO to FICO?  I am new to FAKO, scores of 700-800 are they good or bad scores?  I know with FICO, these scores are considered excellent. 

Thanks

[bettercreditguy1]

Fakos are not useless. They provide a pulse to the direction you are heading. They also do it less expensively as they are proprietary only to the credit reporting agency that supplies them. Fico has their own secret formula/aogrithms for supply and yes selling their number to financial and auto industries. However, when you get serious about a mortage, you will be judged by a Fico Branded credit score which is almost always lower than a Faco score as they are "industry specific". This means the formula is tweaked for that style of loan.

[marty56]

If you are using a CMS which monitors a FAKO score, a change in it could indicate a change on your CR but not a change in your FICO score.  Also movement in your FAKO score could be oposite of movement in your FICO score.  Also the advise they give you to improve your FAKO score could actually hurt your FICO score.

So unless a lender is using the FAKO score to extend your credit, FAKO scores are pretty much usless.  LOL if they were usefull, they wouldn't be so cheap. 

[MarineVietVet]

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@bettercreditguy1 wrote:

Fakos are not useless. They provide a pulse to the direction you are heading. They also do it less expensively as they are proprietary only to the credit reporting agency that supplies them. Fico has their own secret formula/aogrithms for supply and yes selling their number to financial and auto industries. However, when you get serious about a mortage, you will be judged by a Fico Branded credit score which is almost always lower than a Faco score as they are "industry specific". This means the formula is tweaked for that style of loan.

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I must respectfully disagree. IF FAKO scores always went the same direction as FICO scores in reaction to a particular change in your credit profile then they could at least be relied on to study trends.

But since FAKO's

Use different scoring formulas,

Exclude some items in scoring that FICO includes,

Include some items for scoring that FICO excludes, 

Will often go the exact opposite direction from FICO's and you can never anticipate which direction that might be

I submit that you can never trust any FAKO score at any time for any reason. To do so is an exercise on futility and will only disappoint you.

[Anonymous]

+1 to MarineVet. I completely agree.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies, Iguess I will purchase 3 fico scores a month and use the fako scores daily.

[Anonymous]

Let's look at it from another perspective: It's entirely possible they're all useless because you never know what version of FICO a lender will pull

IMO, the information is far more valuable than we'd ever be willing to believe and that's why so many versions exist. It's also likely why credit repair (adjusting perceived risk) is such a difficult task. They're protecting the information's integrity to maintain its usefulness as a risk assessment tool to benefit their clients.

[rckstrscott]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the replies, Iguess I will purchase 3 fico scores a month and use the fako scores daily.

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Just so you are aware, there is no place you can purchase a Experian FICO score.. They stopped allowing it to be sold to consumers in 2009

-scott