SCORE CONFUSION

[Anonymous]

Hello!!!! I was wondering if anyone experienced the same?  I checked my TU credit report 3 weeks ago and had a score of 651.  When i purchased the 3 in 1 report i noticed my TU score appears as 566.  When i go back to TU's individual site it is still 651. i am very confused and concerned. 

[llecs]

Where are you getting your 3-in-1 scores from?

The only place to get all 3 scores together is through myFICO. TU's website doesn't offer a FICO score (unless you went directly through transunioncs.com). There are no sites that offer a 3-in-one report with FICO scores, only FAKO scores.

Edit to add....the report and score purchased together at transunion.com (not transunioncs) is a FAKO score.

Message Edited by llecs on 09-26-2008 08:40 AM

[Anonymous]

I went on line through annual credit report and checked transunion. It had a score of 647 then i disputed some information and it was removed.  I was able to view an updated credit report with the correction and a higher score of 651.  I got the 3 in 1 from credit report.Com. i paid 29 bucks for that one and free 30 day for the score after which it would cost $9.95 to get my score. Oh man, i was so excited and encouraged by the 600 score, so when i saw the 566 overall i freaked. 

Thanks for responding so quickly!!

[llecs]

Ignore the scores you got. Companies will often advertise a credit score to as to sell a product. Unfortunately, no creditors use them. Also, their formula is different than a FICO score. I even had a collection removed once and my EX FAKO via CCT dropped. Go figure. When FICOs go up, FAKOs can go down. Also their scales differ. Some FAKOs go from 501 to 900+, some 100-900, etc.

If you want an accurate score, pull via myFICO. Yes, the cost is higher. But you get what you pay for. Also, try googling myFICO discount codes to find a discount.

[Anonymous]

Ok so i just wasted $40. I was trying to decide which one to purchase from FicO and i couldn't decide. i was leaning towards the Suze Orman kit or score watch.  I just want something accurate and something that notifies me when there are changes.  I use to have one like that 5 years ago and i cant remember which one it was.  I have not applied for credit in over a year and i figured i would be on the 600 wagon. But you said if FAKOs are low FICO is higher correct?

Thank you so much for your guidance.

[Anonymous]

In my general experience, yes, FAKO scores tend to be lower. Right now for example my TU FICO score is 661, but my FAKO score is only 617.

Message Edited by JR2475 on 09-26-2008 08:12 AM

[Anonymous]

Ok great!!! This gives me hope. Thanks so much.

[marty56]

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JR2475 wrote:
In my general experience, yes, FAKO scores tend to be lower. Right now for example my TU FICO score is 661, but my FAKO score is only 617.

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There is no relationship between FAKO and FICO scores.  They should be ignored and trying to guess what will hapen to your FICO score when your FAKO score changes is a total waste of time.

Message Edited by marty56 on 09-27-2008 07:57 AM

[haulingthescoreup]

marty, you're going to have to make a macro on that and save yourself some typing, like me!

What people need to track are the changes on the credit reports, rather than the changes in their FAKO's. Because it's the info on the reports that drives the scores, and that's why we urge that everyone study their credit reports and learn what elements on them result in their scores.

We don't know what triggers score changes in FAKO's, but we've developed a half-way decent understanding of what drives FICO's. For those with credit monitoring services that allow daily pulls, you will be able to follow real-time report changes, and therefore have a good chance of knowing when your FICO's have changed.

713 - EQ FICO
vs
732 - EQ FAKO (TrueCredit, as are the others)

728 - TU FICO
vs
702 - TU FAKO

730 - EX FICO
vs
673 - EX FAKO

[Scamp]

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marty56 wrote:

There is no relationship between FAKO and FICO scores.  They should be ignored and trying to guess what will hapen to your FICO score when your FAKO score changes is a total waste of time.

---

Not entirely the case for everyone - FAKO's for me, for some reason, all run just about 50 pts (+/- 5 or so) higher than my FICO's, so monitoring my FAKO's does give me a pretty good idea of where my FICO's are at any given time, and if my FAKO's go up or down a significant amount, it's very likely (and so far has been borne out by pulling my FICO's) that my FICO's have changed by a similar amount.

I have Credit Secure and am the kind of neurotic control-freak who pulls her CR's through that every single day, and that 50-pt. difference across all three has been pretty consistent over time and saves me buying FICO's all the time.

OP might be able to do a similar approach, if his/her FICO-FAKO relationships appear to be fairly stable in their variance, as mine seem to be.

FWIW.  Hope it's helpful.

ETA:  I may well be an isolated lucky soul, that my FAKO's are so consistently about the same number of points different from my FICO's, and always in the same direction.  From what Hauling said, it sounds like that may well be the case and everyone else's FAKO's range widely higher and lower than their FICO's all the time, apparently with no rhyme or reason.  When in doubt, listen to Hauling!   

Message Edited by Scamp on 12-18-2008 12:17 PM