Are scores from other online sources pretty much useless?

[kenred76]

Hi everyone, I am in the process of cleaning up my credit file, and recently signed up with IdentityIQ. They provided a 3-in-1 merged report, which includes credit scores from the big 3. It says on the report that the scores given should be used as a guideline only and that potential lenders will have a different score. Here's what Im wondering; should I ignore the scores given? Are scores given by online sites like this and freescore.com even close to a person's actual scores? Thanks in advance, and apologies if this has been covered before.....

[Anonymous]

Yep - pretty much useless.  It's great when you can see updated credit reports, but the fako scores are frustrating because they're different than FICO scores.  They can be off by a little or a lot; they can be higher or lower; they can move in opposite directions to FICO movement.  Even worse, following the advice that comes with fako scores can, and does, damage FICO scores.

I'll quote llecs on this, cuz he lays it out nicely.

"Virtually everyone sells scores, but they are not all FICO scores. If you got scores from the big 3, then very likely 2 or all 3 of them are not FICO scores. Experian and TransUnion do not sell FICO scores on their website. Equifax does sell FICO scores but it is very hidden and difficult to find. It's not on their products page. We call these non-FICO scores, FAKOs, and can easily be as much as a few points to 100+ points off your real FICO when pulled the same day. If it didn't say "FICO" next to the score, then it isn't.

Other companies (e.g. freecreditreport.com, freescore.com, truecredit, creditkarma, Equifax Credit Complete, Quizzle, and dozens of others out there) sell scores, but they are nothing more than gimmicks and lenders don't use them. They do this because they want to avoid paying any fees to FICO and when they say "credit score" people buy it anyway on the assumption that it is a FICO. The scores are off because the formula is different, factors in different things as compared to FICO, and score ranges are different than FICO's (e.g. FICO is 300-850, Vantage is 501-990, PLUS is 330-830, TransRisk is 350-850, and so on)."

Hope that helps!

[kenred76]

Thank you so much, you confirmed what I suspected. My scores look pretty good, so I hope they arent off by much. I guess I will pull them from here to eliminate all doubt.

[Anonymous]

because I like free, I keep reminding folks that you can get your EQ FICO for free - from this site through the 10 day free trial on ScoreWatch.  You'll also get a helpful analysis with your report and score.   Just cancel it before the ten days - that's the for free part - or keep it running for ongoing updates on your EQ FICO score.

And - did I mention - it's free????

[kenred76]

Pulling your own report doesnt count as an inquiry, thereby lowering your score, right?

[GregB]

Pulling your own score NEVER counts as an inquiry. It is what is usually called a "soft" inquiry. Only "hard" inquiries are reported to creditors or count toward a score.

[Anonymous]

I have paying accounts with all 3 of the big credit reporting agencies. Each provides its own "credit score" and sells the "credit scores" of the two others.

But the scores purporting to be for the other agencies are NOT the ones reported by those agencies. For example, if you are signed up with Equifax, the

Experiean and Trans-Union scores they will sell you are really Equifax's scoring Method applied to their (usually out of date) credit reports of the other two.

So if you buy all the credit scores out there how many do you get this way? Nine, not counting FICO.

Then I asked the sales people at each of these agencies if they can give me a breakdown as to which lenders use which score and in waht order and what

is the market share of each score. They all said, we don't have that information. I asked if that means they don't have their product knowledge? All I got was obfuscating replies. 

Then I asked if they had any knowledge of how their score is calculated in comparison to the FICO score. At Equifax they said that the range of their score is 20

points more than for FICO. That was asserted as the major difference. In my case I have a 100+ points difference. I asked is this because Equifax only goes back

10 years while FICO goes back longer? I did not use credit between my 3rd to 10th year of my 20 year credit history, which appears to account for the difference. When pressed this way, the Equifax sales person agreed. So it seems they do have some product knowledge but are hiding it from their paying customers. But they will not

let us know what is their market share for their score with lenders.

[Anonymous]

 I have joined several of these so-called credit score, people are just now finding out it's a BIG SCAM I had to find out the hardway. They made it sound like if you

signup for a membership your credit scores will skyrise not !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I, too, have read that scores available to consumers - from every source - are not the scores that businesses buy. The question is: where can I buy my actual score that is sold to a business?

[tommyz1052]

Although I think the  myfico service is good, alot of the moderator answers are self serving. Simply of course the other reports are not FICO scores. FairISaac owns the rights to that name and algorithm.

I was nieve about the topic until i ALMOST made a bad credit decision on a Fico score and turns out the FICO was lower than what the other scoring companies by about 50 points.

Turns out many lenders use and pay for FICO scores, there is NO LAW ( ALTHOUGH THEY TRIED) that says that FICO scores have to be used by a bank / lender. Often they come up there own scores ( referred to as FAKO on this site) using there own algorithm.

Scores are just a way to give a quick credit decision. Simple . Although it had a right to FairISsaic did try to lobby congress and get it to make it the ONLY credit score allowed ( 2 years ago) thank god that didnt happen.

Here is a NON biased US news article on the topic. http://money.msn.com/credit-rating/article.aspx?post=452375b0-5e41-4cbb-8ea0-ed5674612ecc

Saying others are FAKO which implies fake is like saying any car not a ford is a fake ford.

What forced me to do my own research was that my MYFICO score was real low at 719 ( a tracked score) with some sort of explanation about many negative things reported on the same day. I was about to get a new car loan and almost didnt based on that score.

I think I know why, for some reason it counts my citicard balances twice

( I wanted the 0 percent interest). So i shopped around and received a EQUIFAX FICO of 760, a transunion of 781 and a Experian of 759 or so.

I put several posts in the forum and recieved the responses that the other ones were (FAKO)fake. The lender finally gave me the 0 percent and the score report at my request and wouldnt you know it was 760 not 719.

Many said the lender would use the 719, hmm.... so real world they didnt.  I still think myfico is better for consumers. But the posts seem to lead into the direction everything elese is fake.

To boil it down for consumers. FAIRISSAIC's algorithm was the first biggest score and was called the FICO, since computers and the internet are more ubiquitous everyone else has come up with a scoring system. Its ONE piece of information a lender may use. There is no law or rule that they use FICO, and no data that is reported on its percentage used. Although that claim is made alot. The FICO score is a aid you can use to judge your credit worthyness. Only until you actually  put in a credit application can you know what happens.

Also note this thread was blasted in an email, I thought as a consumer I was bound to give my perspective. Just as someone who had been through a loan process recently.

Also I would ask, are the moderators who reference FairIssaic products Employees or just consumers ? I think that disclaimer is warranted up front since you are promoting a product.