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So I've been reading a few posts that talk about the FICO and FAKO scores? How would I go about gettign the real FICO scores? Do I go to the 3 cvredit bureaus website and pay they $1 trial and get my score or can I only get the real FICO by going to a bank and have it pulled?
Ugh, this is quite nerve wrecking when you have less than perfect credit. And I'm barely out of the startign gates....
Thanks all.
The good news is that you're at the right place.
The bad news is that there are multiple "real" credit scores, depending on why you want credit. Auto loan providers have access to a specialized credit score. There are also credit card optimized scores. Those can be tricky to find out - in some cases, it's possible only with a lender pull.
Mortgage lending is a bit easier, as they use general, baseline FICO models. But even then there are multiple scoring models. Based on what I've learned here, and from my own recent experience, the scores you care about for a mortgage are, in all likelihood:
Equifax: Beacon 5
Experian: FairIsaac v2
Transunion: Classic 04
Forget Experian. You won't get that score except from a lender (unless you're lucky enough to get it as a perk from your credit union. Even that is exceptionally rare.
Forget TransUnion. You can get a real TransUnion FICO at this site, but it's an outdated FICO (Classic 98). It may line up pretty well with Classic 04. But it might not. It could just as easily be misleading because, by definition, they are different scoring models that weight credit factors differently.
The only real (and really useful) FICO you can get is Equifax's Beacon 5. It's available here and also directly from Equifax. If you go to their site, look at the product comparison and be 100% certain that you're buying a FICO and not a "credit score." 90% of Equifax products provide a FAKO. @ Equifax, if it doesn't explicitly say FICO, then it isn't one.
Agree with previous post except TU score from this site is not worthless, yes it is old score with old methodology but it is better than a FAKO score. It's an ok score to benchmark yourself to see how you are going from one period to next period.
Thank you both. So now one of my many dumb questions. What exactly is a FAKO score then? Is that when I would go to one of these websites that offer me all 3 scores?
Thanks
@hankejp wrote:Thank you both. So now one of my many dumb questions. What exactly is a FAKO score then? Is that when I would go to one of these websites that offer me all 3 scores?
Take a look at the credit scoring 101 thread listed in this sticky of frequently requested threads:
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Frequently-Requested-Threads/td-p/19320
I see your point, but -- to me -- there's not much difference between an outdated FICO and a FAKO. You can use both as benchmarks to track progress over time, but neither is guaranteed to line up with the current model's scoring. As I see it, the main difference is that you can get the FAKO for free. I know this doesn't make myFICO.com happy, but it's kind of the truth. the Equifax product for sale here is just a lot more valuable than the TU one. Again, just one random internet guy's opinion.
@Watchmann wrote:Agree with previous post except TU score from this site is not worthless, yes it is old score with old methodology but it is better than a FAKO score. It's an ok score to benchmark yourself to see how you are going from one period to next period.
@languedoctor wrote:I see your point, but -- to me -- there's not much difference between an outdated FICO and a FAKO. You can use both as benchmarks to track progress over time, but neither is guaranteed to line up with the current model's scoring. As I see it, the main difference is that you can get the FAKO for free. I know this doesn't make myFICO.com happy, but it's kind of the truth. the Equifax product for sale here is just a lot more valuable than the TU one. Again, just one random internet guy's opinion.
There are still creditors that pull TU98....Navy Federal for example.....