Sorry... but I am totally confused

[Anonymous]

OK … I am totally confused.  I’ve been lurking around this (and similar) forums for a couple of months, have read all the “Newbie” threads, dozens of other threads, and … I am now totally confused.

I want to monitor my ‘credit score’ while I attempt to get my bank to lower the interest on the Mastercard I have, or get another card with a lower interest rate and do a balance transfer.  I have read that the only real FICO score is the one you get from Fair Isaac (e.g., myFICO, right?).  I have also read that you can get FICO scores from the big 3 credit reporting agencies. I have also read that the scores from the big 3 credit reporting agencies are really FAKO scores because only Fair Isaac has the ‘real’ FICO algorithm; and also that you get both FAKO and FICO from each of the big three.

Please un-confuse me and then, if you would be so kind, tell me, please, which score(s) I should monitor while I repair my credit.

[Anonymous]

Christopher, I share your pain. It is so discouraging at trying to get good reliable, consistant, and trustworthy information from all 3 CRA's, so you can adequately access your personal credit situation.

Case in point: on 10/01/07 I pulled all 3 cr's from annualcreditreport.com, AND paid for all 3 credit scores. All 3 used different scoring models. It came back this way:

1.)   EQ: your FICO score is: 633(based on the FICO scoring range of 300-850)

2.)   TU: your Personal Credit score is: 676(based on the numerical scores from 501-990)

3.)   EXP: Your Vantage Score is: 665 (on a scale of 501-990)

So I have to assume that only Equifax gives you true FICO scores. The other 2 are FAKO's. But as you can see, even the FAKO scores have different scoring ranges. To me this leads to utter chaos, as it leaves me wondering who do I trust. Who you gonna call......Ghostbusters?  lol

The only reliable source that I'm aware of for receiving all 3 credit reports AND FICO scores is right here at myFiCO.come. At least you are able to compare apples to apples, as far as your scores go.

[Anonymous]

The answer is that these other scores called "FAKOs" are calculated using a different method than FICO scores. The methodology is roughly similar to FICO, but not exactly the same, and that's the rub. FICO scores are the ones used by the vast majority of prospective creditors--they are an industry standard.

This isn't to say that FICOs are inherently "better" than so-called FAKOs. The formula used is just different. But as a practical matter, you want to stick with FICO because that's what almost everyone else (i.e., banks, car dealers, mortgage brokers, insurance companies) is using.

[Anonymous]

Well, is Sylviatob's assumption about only Equifax giving you the real FICO (of the 3 CRAs) true? 

Perhaps one of the things that is confusing me is that here on myFICO, on the 'Products' page, it says:

FICO® score & credit report from Equifax; FICO® score & credit report from TransUnion; and, FICO® score & credit report from Experian. 

So will all the above FICO scores be the same?, and will they be the same score that you get from Equifax?, or if you get the FICO and the report from either Transunion and Experian do you also get a FAKO from those two?

Wow.

Thank you Sylviatob and TheNewWorldMan for responding.

[Anonymous]

You can get a FICO from Equifax, Experian or TransUnion (the CRAs), and you can get a FAKO from any of these, too.

The CRAs provide the raw data (your credit report). They can run that data through a non-FICO formula (there are several of them) and generate a FAKO credit score, or they can run your data through Fair Isaac's formula, and generate a FICO score. A FICO score will say "FICO" on it. If the "credit score" you get doesn't bear the FICO emblem, it's almost certainly a non-FICO (aka "FAKO") score.

[Anonymous]

One quick note to add - You mentioned you read you can get FICO scores from all 3 agencies.  If you're using the free annual reports, or free report due to denial of credit, they won't provide a score (FICO, FAKO, or otherwise).  Don't think that's what you were doing, but just in case... 

Just to clarify, when you request your report through myfico, myfico is taking information provided to them from the CRA's and processing it through the FICO formula.  All the reporting agency is doing is providing the 'ingredients'.  I'd compare it to taking 3 chefs, giving them the same ingredients bought from the same store, but all 3 coming out with different dishes; they just process it differently.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Well, is Sylviatob's assumption about only Equifax giving you the real FICO (of the 3 CRAs) true?

---

Yes, that's true. Although I do keep hearing that somewhere on one of the TransUnion sites (I think it was www.transunioncs.com), you can buy your TU FICO. I haven't found it yet, though.

But otherwise, EQ is the bureau that has a business partnership with FICO. The Score Watch product that they sell is the same one that myFICO sells, and the score that they sell is a FICO. One way to tell is that FICO scores will have that rather lame gold seal that you see on this site (click on "products.")

Just to stir things up though, you can buy EQ FAKO's from other sites. For instance, I have both Score Watch from myFICO and TrueCredit, which I use to pull nearly daily reports for all three bureaus. TrueCredit posts their own super-duper scores. Their EQ is way higher than my FICO EQ, and their EX and TU are lower than my FICO EX and TU. Also, they often give confusing and misleading advice on score improvement.

When all is said and done, you really don't need to pull your FICO scores that often. (I keep trying to follow my own advice.) If you are doing lots of appeals and changes and opening of new accounts, you might want to monitor your REPORTS (not scores) frequently, just to see if things post correctly. Then, if something big happens, or you just can't stand it any more, you can buy your not-cheap FICO scores to see what happened with them. Be sure to Google FICO discount code or FICO discount coupon. Hope that helps, or at least doesn't make you more confused than ever.

[Anonymous]

OK, I think I am beginning to see the light. I think.   Assuming that the data held by the 3 major CRAs is different (I gather that that is often or always the case), you can have 3 different FICO scores, and three different FAKO scores, right? (Well, actually, NewWorldMan says as much, doesn't he.)

I don't want to become obsessive/compulsive about this. What is the best 'score' to watch that will best indicate if my 'credit profile' is getting better or worse. Unfortunately, cost is a consideration. (I won't be making any home purchases or the like.) Pick one FICO and watch that ...  use some kind of an average or what?

I really want to thank you folks for responding so quickly and clearly !  I've learned almost as much in the last few hours than I have the last two months. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Chris,

Someone I'm CERTAIN will want to burn me at the stake for this, but I'm going to say it anyway.

First, this is not recommended if you need to know your FICO, and not FAKO, score.  Here goes nothin...Okay, my first taste of credit education was freecreditreport.com (DON'T SHOOT!  PLEASE!).  I am still with them, and here's why.

I like to be able to pull a new report whenever I want.  I could do once once a week and twice on Sunday if that was my prerogative.  It's $12.95/mth, I think, but includes all the soft pulls you can handle, along with a Plus score (FAKO).  I know the score is crap, BUT, I can track my progress (i.e. see if I'm trending up or down).  Plus, because I'm a paranoid person, I can look for fraudulent stuff whenever I want, just like any other service.  Or, see if that GW letter did me any good. 

Once in awhile, I'll spend the $45 here to get all 3 true FICO's.  The truth is, I want to have very current reports, but can't afford to spend the big bucks on a true FICO every month - that's a bill I could pay.

Again, I'm going to get it from all sides, because in these parts FAKO is the devil.  But I've found it useful, if not perfect.  I can't stress enough that FAKO and FICO are completely different (my scores have differed up to 100 points), but that I can watch the trend of my score.  Hope that helps...

PS - They use Experian

Message Edited by OBXFrank on 11-08-2007 05:12 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

Hey, we still love you, Frank! I'm in my TrueCredit every day. I glance at the scores, which seem to twitch a couple of points either way, randomly. I just stay away from their advice, because my brain doesn't need any more confusion than it already has.

Unless you're headed for a mortgage or another biggie, there's no logical reason for frequent FICO pulls --they're just too expensive! But I can just about guarantee you that if you've been PIF'ing and app'ing and GW'ing and PTF'ing and all the other fun new things you'll learn to do around here, you will at some point break down and pay for scores, just to see if anything happened at all! And if you can afford it, you might want to pay for all 3 scores before you enter the credit wars. It's good to know where you are starting from.

And never pay full price for your scores. You can always find at least 10% off by Googling fico discount code or fico discount coupon, and sometimes better. If all else fails, call a myFICO customer service rep and they'll give you one.