BoA FICO or not?

[marty56]

If BofA has their own version of a FICO score I know what mine would be.  -1.

[Anonymous]

Okay, thanks for checking.  I am going to call BoA tomorrow and pass this info along, as well as request cancellation... don't appreciate being misled.

[Not_the_Point]

From my experience with BoA, they have horribly incompetent and poorly trained CSR staff. When I started trying to get a Credit Card with them, it took me THREE applications because one way or another they kept screwing up, be it never submitting the application, or not getting some piece of additional information they needed from me, failing to follow up.. etc etc.

Their phone support was never able to give me any straight answers and would just refer me to the nearest branch.

When I finally got my card, they didn't even get my name right. Just flat out embarassing that a bank had such incompetent workers. The funny part is now my Credit Card is all good and dandy and is working out, but when I receive promotional offers in the mail from BoA they still get my name wrong. I'm not sure how that's even possible after having gone back and forth with them on this several times, but there you have it!

With BoA, it's best to do as much research yourself. You really can't count on their CSR to have adequate training to answer your questions in a manner that you can be sure they're giving you all the information.

[marty56]

---

@Not_the_Point wrote:

You really can't count on their CSR to have adequate training to answer your questions in a manner that you can be sure they're giving you all the information.

---

You can count on their ability to give a smug, nasty answer to your question though.

[jbh]

Their stupid service is a one months snapshot and daily (if needed) alerts/updates. That said, they give fakos, if any score, and are most certainly *not* giving ficos.

[Anonymous]

Well, my call this morning only further confused the issue...

Rep said the scores are from each bureau - EQ calls their Beacon, TU calls their In...something or other, and EX actually uses the FICO label.  Then scores are run thru BoA program (hence FAKO) but she refused to admit the scores were non-FICO.  She went so far as to say that there are no true FICO scores because every institution - bank, ccc, auto dealer, mortgage co - will modify the score to their own algorithm, weighing items more/less to their standards. 

I almost felt she was attempting to talk a bit down to me when she said that most of the public are confused by credit scores because they think FICO is something different when they are essentially all the same.  Well excuse me, I asked if there was a breach of ethics or anything with their representation of their product as FICO when they have NOT received Fair Issac's permission and she actually so NO.  I ended the conversation with telling her as far as I have understood, all scores are not created equal and I felt misled and requested to cancel. 

I am just thankful for this site, as I already fell for the FAKO thing with TC, but at least they never claimed them to be FICO. 

[RobertEG]

I hope someone from FairIsaac is reading this thread......

[Junejer]

WIKT, this makes me wonder. True FICO scores from EQ are called Beacon scores, True FICO scores from TU are called Emperica scores and EX does indeed just call theirs FICO. Now, just what are they doing to the algorithm to enhance it or something is what would be interesting to me. This is probably just like the PFICO that WaMu offers. Do they have the right or authority to pervert the true FICO score is the question?

[Anonymous]

Well today's rep said they (BoA) take a very conservative approach in their algorithm and only 8-10% difference from genuine score.  Rep says most he's seen is about 20 point difference - that seems like a major difference to me. 

[Anonymous]

thats like "But Officer I was only going 20 miles over the speed limit!"