FICO 8 vs Fico 08 Same thing?

[Marcos8]

I see references all over to FICO 04, FICO 08, FICO 8 etc... So are 08 and 8 the same thing or something different? Can anyoene explain? Thanks!

[Revelate]

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@Marcos8 wrote:

I see references all over to FICO 04, FICO 08, FICO 8 etc... So are 08 and 8 the same thing or something different? Can anyoene explain? Thanks!

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Sort of: it's marketing product nomenclature unfortunately.

FICO used to label their algorithms by the year which they were released: 95, 98, 04, 08.  

With the new release it appears to be called FICO 9 (even though developed principally in call it '13 and '14).  I don't know how far this revisionist marketing will go, but for the most part I'd term FICO 8 as being equivalent to FICO 08.

[Marcos8]

What year was FICO 8 developed/released? Is it really that new or just new to us since we can finally purchase it?

[Revelate]

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@Marcos8 wrote:

What year was FICO 8 developed/released? Is it really that new or just new to us since we can finally purchase it?

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New to us, it was released 2008/2009.  Lenders have been using it for the past few years honestly, FICO is about to release yet another version this summer even.

It's going to get really confusing on the labels as for example FICO 04 was termed Beacon 5.0 from Equifax, and FICO 08 was Beacon 9.0... now we're getting FICO 9, sigh, so not looking forward to trying to explain that one later.

[jello77]

Marcos8 said:

I see references all over to FICO 04, FICO 08, FICO 8 etc... So are 08 and 8 the same thing or something different? Can anyone explain?

There are numerous FICO versions and the names can be confusing. Below is a post that helps explain the different names and versions:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/The-many-flavors-of-FICO-Editions-version...

When a new version of FICO was announced in 2008, the company originally called it FICO 08, as shown in this press release dated July 2008:

http://www.fico.com/en/about-us/newsroom/news-releases/fair-isaac-innovation-will-restore-authorized...

FICO later decided to change the name to FICO 8 (without the zero), as shown in this press release dated July 2010:

http://www.fico.com/en/about-us/newsroom/news-releases/fico-8-score-is-new-standard-for-credit-risk-...

In March 2014, FICO announced a new version called FICO 9 would be available in summer 2014, as described in this press release:

http://www.fico.com/en/about-us/newsroom/news-releases/new-version-industry-standard-fico-score-will...

It appears the company has decided to stop naming FICO versions based on the year of adoption. New versions will instead be numbered consecutively (8, 9,10, etc.).

Even though it hasn't yet been released, the new FICO 9 version is already causing confusion.

For example, on May 27 an article was published on the mainstreet.com web site with this title:

Why Your Credit Score Just Changed and How it Will Impact Your Ability to Get a Loan

Here is an excerpt:

Your credit score has likely just changed – and whether it went up or down is not necessarily the result of something you did, but rather a change in the scoring methodology used by FICO. The upgrade, known as FICO Score 9, is the first update in six years and the company says that while the data is just being released to consumers, "the majority of FICO scores being pulled by lenders are [already being] generated based on this upgraded version."  ... Credit score fanatics on the FICO community forum … are abuzz with the change, with most noting an increase to their score.

This article has confused two different things.  The score changes discussed in the article have nothing to do with FICO 9, which is not even in use yet.

The score changes discussed in the article are the result of the change MyFICO recently made from FICO 04 to FICO 08.  If you order your FICO scores from MyFICO, the scores from Experian and Equifax now use FICO 08 instead of FICO 04 (the Transunion score still uses the FICO 98 model).  This change was announced in the following post on this board:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/FICO-8-Announcement/td-p/2996572

The article on the mainstreet.com web site is an illustration of how the various FICO scores and names can cause confusion, even to people who write for financial web sites.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/credit/debt/why-your-credit-score-just-changed-and-...

[Marcos8]

Thank you!