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I have a subscription to the Experian monitoring service, where you can log in and check the status of all of your debt accounts, FICO score, and so on. Every time I call to cancel, they give a steep discount to keep me on as a subscriber, so I find it helpful to monitor the FICO for a few bucks per month (for the time being). The odd thing is the wide range of FICO scores between the 3 companies. The Experian information is correct, including one charge that went into collections about a year ago (a $200 fee for an eye exam that I must have missed when initially billed by mail). I settled the debt as soon as the collection agent contacted me and that was that, but too late to avoid the ding on the report. I'm not sure if something can be done about that, as it is dragging down the score by some amount according to the secret formula. I guess my first question is how long does such a thing penalize you after the debt has been settled in full? It has been almost 12 months now. But here is the odd thing...One of my credit cards includes a free FICO as part of membership. They use TransUnion as their FICO source. The score they reflect is a full 65 points higher than the Experian FICO. I checked it over several months to see if that was an aberration, but no change. I would have assumed all of the credit bureaus would be in the same rough range, not that far apart (I have not paid the third to see their score), since they all presumably calculate using the same inputs. Is this normal? As I understand it, the one free annual report from each company does not include the FICO. Edit: Is credit karma really free, or is there a gotcha in there somewhere?
Which credit card is it? There are different FICO score ranges. You might be comparing one score that tops out at 850 to one that tops out at 900 or 950.
Another possibility is that the collection is not being reported to Transunion. It happens.
As far as how long to expect the collection to appear on your report, 7.6 years. It will effect your score less and less as it gets older though. There are ways to get rid of it, go to creditboards.com to find out.
Which credit card is it? There are different FICO score ranges. You might be comparing one score that tops out at 850 to one that tops out at 900 or 950.
Another possibility is that the collection is not being reported to Transunion. It happens.
As far as how long to expect the collection to appear on your report, 7.6 years. It will effect your score less and less as it gets older though. There are ways to get rid of it, go to creditboards.com to find out.
Thanks, it is Discover IT. I'll check out the creditboards.
I have a subscription to the Experian monitoring service, where you can log in and check the status of all of your debt accounts, FICO score, and so on. Every time I call to cancel, they give a steep discount to keep me on as a subscriber, so I find it helpful to monitor the FICO for a few bucks per month (for the time being). The odd thing is the wide range of FICO scores between the 3 companies. The Experian information is correct, including one charge that went into collections about a year ago (a $200 fee for an eye exam that I must have missed when initially billed by mail). I settled the debt as soon as the collection agent contacted me and that was that, but too late to avoid the ding on the report. I'm not sure if something can be done about that, as it is dragging down the score by some amount according to the secret formula. I guess my first question is how long does such a thing penalize you after the debt has been settled in full? It has been almost 12 months now. But here is the odd thing...One of my credit cards includes a free FICO as part of membership. They use TransUnion as their FICO source. The score they reflect is a full 65 points higher than the Experian FICO. I checked it over several months to see if that was an aberration, but no change. I would have assumed all of the credit bureaus would be in the same rough range, not that far apart (I have not paid the third to see their score), since they all presumably calculate using the same inputs. Is this normal? As I understand it, the one free annual report from each company does not include the FICO. Edit: Is credit karma really free, or is there a gotcha in there somewhere?
FICO is it's own company, there is no such thing as an Experian FICO score. Experian may come up with a credit score based on the same system, but it is not FICO and IMO is worthless. I can check my FICO free with my Discover CashBack and my Walmart Discover cards (you can with ALL Discover cards).
FICO is it's own company, there is no such thing as an Experian FICO score. Experian may come up with a credit score based on the same system, but it is not FICO and IMO is worthless. I can check my FICO free with my Discover CashBack and my Walmart Discover cards (you can with ALL Discover cards).
An Experian FICO score is a FICO score based on Experian data. You purchase it from FICO.
What Experian gives you is an Experian FAKO, a FAKO score based on Experian data.
What I'd like is to have access to what lenders actually see. I'd pay a bit for it if that is offered. I had no idea that Experian was feeding me a FAKO - is that really Fake-o?
Sounds like you don't even know what a FICO score is. Unlike what you may think, FICO scores and credit scores are not synonyms.
There are many credit risk estimating companies out there that come up with their own algorithms to calculate consumer credit risk. The most well-known among them is FICO. A credit score calculated using FICO's algorithm is a FICO credit score. FICO credit scores are the most widely used by lenders in assessing risk profiles. FICO over time has updated their scoring algorithm, and each time they make a revamp to it, they have a new scoring model. In addition, each FICO scoring model applied on each credit bureau's data results in a FICO score. To make it even more confusing, each type of credit product uses a slightly modified FICO scoring model to put heavier emphasis on the specific product. So each consumer has multiple FICO scores. FICO scores are also time-specific; your score today may differ from your score tomorrow if your credit profile gets updated in the next 24 hours. In short, a FICO score depends on:
1. The credit bureau
2. The specific FICO scoring model
3. The specific credit product (credit cards, mortgage, etc)
4. The specific point in time
And that's why you may see your FICO scores varying wildly. I've had 50+ points differences at 2 points in time that are very close.
To identify a FICO score, as a rule of thumb, whenever you see a credit score that doesn't contain FICO in the name, it is not a FICO score. Non-FICO scores are often free and just irrelevant.
Edit: Is credit karma really free, or is there a gotcha in there somewhere?
FYI - Yes Credit Karma is really free however the score they give you is based on their own calculation and is not a score that would be used if you were to go buy a home or car. So the score is basically worthless. The score you want is the FICO score as others mentioned. You would need to pay for it somehow, unless you have a credit card which supplies it (which isn't free for most people who carry a balance).
So there is no one place I can obtain my score prior to buying a car, regardless of paying for it (FICO, I mean). Say I apply for a lease or finance deal with ACME motors, ACME may pull from one or more of half a dozen sources, is that about right?
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