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Monday, February 23, 2009

Credit Coaching - FICO and Your Other Credit Scores

By Cliff Pape

About 90% of the banks all over the world use credit scores from one organization. That company is the Fair Isaac Corporation or better known as FICO.

It's a good idea for you to get your credit scores from the FICO website, because your FICO scores are the ones that most creditors will use to base their acceptance of your credit application. You need to get an accurate picture of what is going on with your score and what is causing it to be as it is.

Always be careful of the scam websites, any place with conflicting information, and the credit bureaus promoting their own version of the credit score. Be sure that they offer your true FICO scores for all three credit bureaus. At myFICO.com, you can purchase just one score or all three scores. This might end up being more than you want to pay, but it is the "truest" way of figuring out your score.

Each of the major bureaus also have their own version of credit scores. Let's look at those now.

Experian and their partners (for instance FreeCreditReport.com) will likely use a PLUS score or the FICO version 2 scoring system. Equifax actually uses FICO scores most of the time or the BEACON. If you order a report through Equifax, like their 3-in-1 report, you're less likely to notice large variations elsewhere because they use the FICO score. TransUnion usually uses the FICO classic scoring system. There seem to be a few variations and some are closer to FICO scores than others.

AnnualCreditReport.com will give you a credit score which is determined differently than the way your FICO score is calculated. They use VantageScore; however, they also use PLUS scores which should closely reflect your FICO score (within 100 points or so). There are different scales and formulas used in each system; FICO and PLUS scores are ranked between 300-850, while VantageScore's scale is between 501-990.

And so there it is. Now you know some of the credit bureau secrets. You should always try to continue to keep yourself educated about your credit score and about the credit system.

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