Credit Repair and Those Darn Credit Scores

A Measure of Credit Repair Progress

If you are planning to start a credit repair effort you might want to establish a benchmark for your progress; some objective means of marking the results of your efforts. Your credit scores are the logical way to measure your improvement. But getting your credit scores is not as simple as it seems. If you attempt to buy your scores online you are likely to encounter a dizzying array of options, many of which make little sense. It turns out that there is not just a single score, nor are there only three, one for each credit bureau. The crazy reality of the credit score market is far less clear. Are you ready to explore the world of credit scores?

It Starts With the Credit Bureaus

In brief, the three credit bureaus maintain credit data on consumers. Credit scores are based on this credit bureau data. Lenders base their lending decisions on a score called the FICO score. Lenders purchase these FICO scores from the credit bureaus, but the credit bureaus do not own the FICO scoring software, they license its use from Fair Isaac Corp, the creator of the FICO model.

One Score Three Names

The credit bureaus rebrand the FICO scores they sell to lenders. Experian calls their FICO score the Experian/Fair Isaac Risk Model, Equifax calls theirs the BEACON score, and TransUnion calls it an EMPIRICA score. All of these scores utilize the FICO software. The reason that there are differences in your three FICO scores is because creditors do not all report to all three bureaus. In addition, there are timing differences in the release and processing of data between the creditors and the credit bureaus; if you pay off a credit card Experian may update your balance in three weeks, Equifax in five weeks and TransUnion in eight. In addition, Fair Isaac updates their software from time to time, and the credit bureaus do not all adopt the new release simultaneously.

The Plot Thickens

So far we have described the relationship between the credit bureaus, Fair Isaac, and lenders. Unfortunately, there is more to the story. In a perfect world if you wanted your scores for credit repair or other purposes you would just purchase them from the credit bureaus. You would then know exactly what a lender will see when they make a decision on your loan application. But the credit bureaus have decided not to sell FICO scores to consumers. Instead, with the exception of Equifax, who sells a genuine FICO score, they have created their own credit scores and sell them to consumers. These bureau scores have little numeric resemblance to a FICO score, often differing by over 100 points. This is completely useless for credit repair, and not only because of the numeric difference, they also behave differently; you can’t optimize your FICO score by optimizing a bureau score.

Ignorance is Not Bliss

If this leaves you wondering why anyone would spend good money on a credit score that has no resemblance to the score that a lender will see, I’m sorry to say that the reason is that the millions of people that buy these scores do not know. And the reason they don’t know is that the disclosures provided by the credit bureaus are almost impossible to find. It is a fact that if Experian and TransUnion were to put their disclosures in plain English, in plain sight, no one would buy their scores.

Your Credit Repair Problem

But let’s go back to our little problem. You are getting your credit repair project rolling. Where can you get your real FICO scores? Prior to February 13, 2009 you could go to MyFICO.com, the Fair Isaac website and purchase all three FICO scores. But as of February 13th Experian has declined to let Fair Isaac sell the Experian FICO score. This has raised a cry of concern from many consumer advocates, but the fact still remains. At the time of this writing you can only purchase your Equifax and TransUnion FICO scores.

The Solution

Work with what you have. Get your two FICO scores. If you want all three scores to benchmark your credit repair results the only option now available to you is to get them through a lender. This may not be as hard as it sounds. If you plan to get a mortgage in the near future you might contact a mortgage broker. They will run your credit as part of the pre-qualification process, and if you ask, they might give you a copy of your report which will show all three scores. Good luck!

Copyright © 2009 Ian Webber. All Content. All Rights Reserved.