Why the HUGE FICO score discrepancy??

[Shugardrawers]

So I was paying one of our credit card bills online tonight and the website gives you a free credit report "snapshot" every month. Considering I'm prompt at paying bills the FICO score always seemed awfully low to me but I chalked it up to a few things that look bad on paper but aren't really bad. Things like my being out of work so long due to illness, Dh's ex was a slow payer but those are pretty old and about ready to drop off, I finally got the credit bureau's to understand the difference between me and my ex's other wife and remove her stuff but it wasn't bad. Our moving quite a bit. That kind of stuff. It's gone up/down a few points every few months but not in keeping with the way we handle our credit for sure. Anyway, I pull our credit reports out of curiosity. The credit card website has our score listed as being over 70 points LESS than the lowest of the 3 bureaus! And it says they made an inquiry on the 4th so they have a current report. Two of the three have us in the mid/high 700s while the 3rd puts us in the very low 700s yet all 3 contain exactly the same information.

What exactly determines your score and why would there be such a HUGE discrepancy? I can understand a few points from place to place but that much??

 

[JennyMominRI]

So I was paying one of our credit card bills online tonight and the website gives you a free credit report "snapshot" every month. Considering I'm prompt at paying bills the FICO score always seemed awfully low to me but I chalked it up to a few things that look bad on paper but aren't really bad. Things like my being out of work so long due to illness, Dh's ex was a slow payer but those are pretty old and about ready to drop off, I finally got the credit bureau's to understand the difference between me and my ex's other wife and remove her stuff but it wasn't bad. Our moving quite a bit. That kind of stuff. It's gone up/down a few points every few months but not in keeping with the way we handle our credit for sure. Anyway, I pull our credit reports out of curiosity. The credit card website has our score listed as being over 70 points LESS than the lowest of the 3 bureaus! And it says they made an inquiry on the 4th so they have a current report. Two of the three have us in the mid/high 700s while the 3rd puts us in the very low 700s yet all 3 contain exactly the same information.

What exactly determines your score and why would there be such a HUGE discrepancy? I can understand a few points from place to place but that much??

Ok, most companies give you a fake score, commonly called a FAKO..It's not the real deal at all..Real ficos are usually higher than FAKOS...If you want your real score you need to go to MYFICO.com.
google FAKO vs FICO and you will get lots of info.

 

[cglaura]

Did you have to pay for your report? Perhaps that is their tactic? Sort of like a bait and switch.

ETA: Agree w/ what Jenny said, I type slow...

 

[JennyMominRI]

Here is a very brief link on FICO vs FAKO

http://www.thecreditforum.com/index.php/inquiries-fico-vs-fako/

First, some terminology. FICO is your legitimate credit score delivered from Fair Issac. Most credit companies use this score to determine whether to give you credit or not. FAKO is slang term used to describe a “score” that individual credit reporting agencies give you. FAKO’s are from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax websites. They are hardly ever used by the credit industry and a FAKO score is more often than not way off from your actual FICO score. That is why people call them FAKO scores… they are fake.





BTW, If your FAKOs are in the 700 range you are in great shape as FICOs are usually higher.
Also it's very common for one of the bureaus to have you with a much lower score than the others. My Transunion score is usually my highest with Experian the lowest

 

[momrek06]

Are you an "authorized user" on any of your DH's cc's? And is he an "authorized user" on any of yours?? No longer will that factor into your score and that may effect your score. This was new as of September.

Like Jenny said, www.myfico.com is the ONLY site for real credit scores.

www.creditboards.com is a fabulous site for CREDIT of any kind. It is a message boards and you will find answers to virtually anything money related on that site. You can even get coupons to use on myfico!!!

 

[Planogirl]

Here is a very brief link on FICO vs FAKO

http://www.thecreditforum.com/index.php/inquiries-fico-vs-fako/

First, some terminology. FICO is your legitimate credit score delivered from Fair Issac. Most credit companies use this score to determine whether to give you credit or not. FAKO is slang term used to describe a “score” that individual credit reporting agencies give you. FAKO’s are from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax websites. They are hardly ever used by the credit industry and a FAKO score is more often than not way off from your actual FICO score. That is why people call them FAKO scores… they are fake.





BTW, If your FAKOs are in the 700 range you are in great shape as FICOs are usually higher.
Also it's very common for one of the bureaus to have you with a much lower score than the others. My Transunion score is usually my highest with Experian the lowest

I've seen you post this before and it fascinates me since I work for one of these firms. I can definitely verify that our agency's score is used by many companies and some use it exclusively. I will agree that FICO is the most widely used however and definitely used by most mortgage companies.

OP, keep in mind that these so-called fake scores and the FICO are all based on different scoring models and can differ for that reason alone. Also, make sure that they are exactly the same because not all companies report to all of the bureaus. Make sure that the information is correct too, the bureaus can help you with any incorrect information or at least try to. The power really rests with the creditors.

 

[JennyMominRI]

I've seen you post this before and it fascinates me since I work for one of these firms. I can definitely verify that our agency's score is used by many companies and some use it exclusively. I will agree that FICO is the most widely used however and definitely used by most mortgage companies.

.

Oh yeah,I'm not saying those scores are never used.. They are used, I think a pretty high majority use FICO"s
You're right about the mortgages. Ed's a mortgage guy and he always used a trimerge of FICO scores.

I'm pretty sure Macy's uses Experians FAKO scores and some auto loan places use FAKOs

 

[Planogirl]

I love the term FACO! That's hilarious.

Truthfully, if the one I'm with had a choice, they probably wouldn't sell either reports or scores to the public. Much of this is government mandated and they don't make any money at it. The money, of course, comes from creditors.

 

[JennyMominRI]

I love the term FACO! That's hilarious.

Truthfully, if the one I'm with had a choice, they probably wouldn't sell either reports or scores to the public. Much of this is government mandated and they don't make any money at it. The money, of course, comes from creditors.

I swear it's not mine...That's what's used all over the net, lol.. I watch my score through my fico and TU truecredit site... I had Experians tripple advantage too..The scores may not be the same from FAKO to FICO but the info is exactly the same. I can check my report eery day if I want too.

I hope you work for TU.. They are the ones with the best score