Reply #40: My post is entirely correct [View All]

[ET Awful]

Perhaps I should have stated it more clearly though.

EVERY bureau can provide a FICO score to a bank, they usually will not provide it to a consumer. They have each, however, developed their own scoring system.

The score that a consumer can purchase from each of the three is NOT a FICO score in most cases.

They will be marketed as "PLUS" scores, "Vantage" scores, etc. These are not FICO scores and should not be confused with them.

There is, indeed, a difference between your scores with each bureau, however, that has no bearing on the accuracy of my post.

Many people will refer to non-FICO scores as FAKO scores because they are just that, fake, and they are not used by any lender. You can usually tell it's fake by the range of scores available. Some of these FAKO scores have a maximum of 990. A FICO score maxes out at 850.

There will often be a disparity of anywhere from 10 to 100 points in either direction between an actual FICO score and any given FAKO score. What you get from one of those monthly monitoring services is not FICO.

I'll quote Wiki on this (for lack of another quickly found link):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_score#United_States

"There are different methods of calculating credit scores. FICO, the most widely known type of credit score, is a credit score developed by FICO, previously known as Fair Isaac Corporation. It is used by many mortgage lenders that use a risk-based system to determine the possibility that the borrower may default on financial obligations to the mortgage lender. The credit bureaus all have their own credit scores: Equifax's ScorePower, Experian's PLUS score, and TransUnion's credit score, and each also sells the VantageScore credit score. In addition, many large lenders, including the major credit card issuers, have developed their own proprietary scoring models."

The proprietary scores referred to are usually another version of FICO referred to as "Credit Card enhanced FICO". There are also other FICO calculations based on the type of credit applied for that show your risk for that type of loan, such as Auto-Enhanced, etc. Rather than being developed in house as Wiki suggests, these are usually commissioned from Fair Isaac by each lender to meet their criteria.

Doubt me? Feel free to call any bank or any monthly subscription service for that matter, and ask them. Or, go to creditboards.com and ask the folks there.