So I was feeling good about my 629 experian (I know, it's not high, but it was 513 a month ago). I decided I would apply for a visa credit card. Not only did I get the "Can't make the decision now, we'll send you something in writing" message, my score dropped 19 points overnight. I did have another inquirt on my report from Feb. Ugh.
@classydread wrote: I do the score watch through the experian site. Not sure if that's what people on the board call fako scores.
Experian doesn't offer a product called ScoreWatch (only Equifax and myFICO), and none of the scores on Experian's website are FICO scores. I'd ignore them. Just because a FAKO changes by 19 doesn't mean FICO would do the same. I've had that very FAKO (called a PLUS score on Experian) increase and FICO decrease on the exact same day for the same report, and vice-versa.
Starting Score: 521 TU, 597 EQ, 574 EX on 6/20/2011