FAKO/FICO discrepancy

[RobertEG]

I must restate, and regurgitate, my aversion to the continued use on this site, of the derogitory term "FAKO."

Fair Issac is admittedly the the prime seller of credit scores, and their trademark permits only their scoring algotim to be labeled as "FICO." But that does make other sellors of credit scores "FAKOS."  Call them non FICOs, call themj Clem, call the what you want, but this is a capitalist country, and Ma-Bell was once the only one,.  Credit scores are only of relevance to the mind of the creditor considering them in a credit decison, and not of the seller of the score. 

Please do not confuse market dominance with superior product or lendor choice.  I dont not think that FICO is any better than any other of the myriad of credit scoring algoithms, it just so happens to be the most promiinent because iit was the fist,.

FICO is not the holy grail.

Message Edited by RobertEG on 05-10-2008 01:39 PM

Message Edited by RobertEG on 05-10-2008 01:44 PM

Message Edited by RobertEG on 05-10-2008 01:52 PM

[marty56]

I wonder then is a FICO score a FAKO FAKO

[Junejer]

Robert, they are FAKOs. This is a capitalist society and I love it. I am not mad at them b/c they are making their money. Their scores are absolutely worthless to anything relating to the real world, however. FICO IS the holy grail, b/c over 90% of lenders are evaluating their credit decisions based off of that score. Nobody is using the Credit Karma score or any of the other gazillion algorithms out there. So, when someone knocks FICO off of its perch, then we will include FICO in with the FAKOs (or whatever clever name someone will come up with to play off of the new king of the hill's name).

IMHO, these scores are worse than generic, b/c there is no practical use for them. At least, generic brands of other products can be a substitute for the leading brand. The FAKOs can't even be that. So, in my mind, I love that someone dubbed them FAKOs, because that is exactly what they are. As America becomes more and more aware about this, the FAKOs will lose its steam, and that guy can quit "thinking of a number".

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Junejer wrote:
Robert, they are FAKOs. This is a capitalist society and I love it. I am not mad at them b/c they are making their money. Their scores are absolutely worthless to anything relating to the real world, however. FICO IS the holy grail, b/c over 90% of lenders are evaluating their credit decisions based off of that score. Nobody is using the Credit Karma score or any of the other gazillion algorithms out there. So, when someone knocks FICO off of its perch, then we will include FICO in with the FAKOs (or whatever clever name someone will come up with to play off of the new king of the hill's name).

IMHO, these scores are worse than generic, b/c there is no practical use for them. At least, generic brands of other products can be a substitute for the leading brand. The FAKOs can't even be that. So, in my mind, I love that someone dubbed them FAKOs, because that is exactly what they are. As America becomes more and more aware about this, the FAKOs will lose its steam, and that guy can quit "thinking of a number".

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Agreed!

I get a huge knot in my stomach whenever someone posts here that they went in for a car loan or mortgage and got a horrible rate, because they had been checking their "non-FICO" scores, shall we say, and their FICO's were lower. And it happens a lot!

Last fall, a USA Today reporter actually posted here asking if anyone had experienced this. We had several members contact him and share their stories. I never did manage to catch the article, although I understand that it did print.

If credit-scores-that-are-generated-by-an-algorithm-other-than-the-one-from-Fair-Isaac (is that better?) were used by a significant number of lenders, it would be different. But as it currently stands, they are no more useful than my daily Libra horoscope published in the newspaper: mildly entertaining to follow, but only that. And horoscopes are generated by various types of formulas too, btw.