Is there only one FICO Score?

And even FICO Scores come in different shapes and sizes. 1 Two of the most common are the FICO Score 5 and the FICO Score 8 . Both are used by lenders to determine a prospective borrower's creditworthiness. But FICO 5 is commonly used in the mortgage lending industry, while FICO 8 is mainly used by credit card issuers.

How accurate is SavvyMoney credit score?

How is SavvyMoney different from programs like Credit Karma? SavvyMoney uses VantageScore 3.0, which pulls data from the three major credit bureaus — TransUnion, Equifax and Experian, rather than just one. This provides a more accurate picture of your credit history.

Is there only one credit score?

You don't have just one credit score . There are many different credit scores and credit score providers. Although your credit scores are calculated using information in your credit reports, there are also many different credit scoring models, or ways of calculating credit scores.

Is FICO the only score that matters?

There are other credit scoring models but FICO is the industry standard, used in 90% of lending decisions in the U.S. There's also more than one FICO score: Your number might be different depending on whether you're applying for an auto loan or a credit card.

Which FICO score is more accurate?

Simply put, there is no “more accurate” score when it comes down to receiving your score from the major credit bureaus.

Which FICO score is correct?

The primary credit scoring models are FICO® and VantageScore®, and both are equally accurate. Although both are accurate, most lenders are looking at your FICO score when you apply for a loan. There's a lot to learn about credit scores and credit reports and having more than one credit score can get confusing.

Is SavvyMoney trustworthy?

A: SavvyMoney uses bank level encryption and security measures to keep your data safe and secure . Your personal information is never shared with or sold to a third party.

What credit bureau does SavvyMoney use?

SavvyMoney uses Transunion and the VantageScore 3.0 credit scoring model to help determine your credit score. This model was developed by the three major credit bureaus: Equifax. Experian.

What is the most respected credit score?

A score of 720 or higher is generally considered excellent. And scoring 800 or above qualifies you for the best terms offered.

How many FICO scores are there?

How Many FICO ® Score Versions Are There? FICO ® reports there are currently 16 distinct versions of the FICO ® Score in use by creditors and other authorized users of personal credit data, such as landlords, utility companies and companies performing certain types of pre-employment background checks.

How many FICO scores do we have?

Customers receive access to 28 versions of their FICO Score, which means they can know the most accurate scores before applying for a credit card, auto loan and/or mortgage.

Do you have multiple FICO scores?

FICO score use among different credit bureaus This means a consumer could have a different FICO score from each of the credit bureaus .

Are there multiple FICO scores?

Key Takeaways. FICO scores are the most widely used credit scores in the U.S. for consumer lending decisions. There are multiple FICO credit scoring models, each of which uses slightly different criteria.

Credit Myth: There is only ONE FICO score - Money Savvy Living (2024)

Have you recently experienced a bankruptcy? Do you have some late payments or collection accounts showing up on your credit history? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you are probably trying to figure out how to rebuild your credit. In order to do this, you will have to work towards increasing your credit score. And to achieve a higher credit score, you must not be fooled into believing the credit myth that there is only one FICO score.

This post has been sponsored by Lexington Law. All opinions are mine alone and are honestly conveyed.

You have more than one FICO score

Creditors use your FICO score to evaluate the risk of extending credit to you. But your credit score isn’t just one number—you actually have three credit scores. There are three different credit bureaus: Transunion, Experian, and Equifax. These agencies receive information about you from your current creditors and assemble that information into a credit risk score. Some creditors send and receive information from only one credit bureau, some use all three. Each credit bureau only uses the information—both positive and negative—that is supplied to it by the creditors that utilize that particular bureau. So it is quite important to know what is reporting to each bureau and work to make sure that all information that is reporting is accurate and updated—to not just one bureau, but all three.

FICO score vs. credit score

FICO is an acronym used to represent the Fair Isaac Corporation—the company that creates the credit scores that the vast majority of creditors use to evaluate creditworthiness. So, a FICO score is basically a synonymous term, interchangeably used with the term credit score. A credit score is a number ranging from 300-850, which indicates your future credit risk. FICO calculates the credit risk based on historical patterns of creditworthiness. Creditors will use this number to determine if they will to lend to you, the maximum amount that they will lend to you, and at what rate they will lend to you.

How is a credit score calculated?

Each bureau has slightly different information that they use in order to calculate your credit score. While each bureau may be utilizing the same formula created by Fair Isaac Corporation to produce a score, keep in mind that not all creditors report to every bureau, so the information that each bureau is using will likely generate a small range of scores. However, they all use the same basic credit components to calculate your score:

Payment history
Level of debt, as compared to available credit
Number of open accounts
Type of accounts
Length of credit history
Number of recent credit inquiries

Why do I need to worry about all 3 credit scores?

Not all creditors report to all three of the credit bureaus, likewise, not all creditors check all three bureaus when they are evaluating your creditworthiness. While a mortgage lender may use a tri-merge credit report and obtain information from all three credit bureaus during their approval process, a creditor for a smaller amount, such as a credit card company, may only look at a single credit bureau when determining your risk level. Because you likely won’t know ahead of time which bureau the credit will be using to obtain your score, nor will you have a choice in which one they will use, it is important to know what each of your scores are and make sure that each bureau has updated and accurate information to reflect the highest score possible.

Because some lenders only look at one bureau, they may not be seeing the entire picture of your credit history. For instance, if you have one credit card that has a late payment history or collection accounts that are only reporting to one of the bureaus, your FICO score generated by that credit agency may be quite a bit lower than your other two credit scores. So if that happens to be the bureau that your new creditor is using to review your creditworthiness, you may end up with a lower credit line and a higher rate than you’d like—or even deserve.

Understand how your credit score impacts your monthly bills

Your credit score will have an influence on the rates that you qualify for when obtaining financing. So when you apply for a new credit card, auto loan, or a mortgage, creditors base the programs and rates that they offer to you on your credit score. If you have a high credit score, you are going to qualify for a lower rate, which will give you lower monthly payments. If your credit score is low, creditors will lend to you at a higher rate because they look at you as more of a risk, thus causing you to have higher monthly payments.

While your credit score can fluctuate and change, relatively based on the information that is reported each month, once a creditor has extended credit to you, the rate and terms will not likely change. So how does this affect your monthly bills? It means that if, for example, you are approved for a car loan based on a lower score, and you may be locked into a higher interest rate, which in turn, causes your monthly car payment to be higher than if you would have been approved with a higher credit score.

Check your credit report

It is important to regularly review your credit report to make sure that the information reporting on you is accurate and up-to-date. It will not do you very much good to work hard to pay your bills on time and get everything up-to-date, just to have old accounts showing up, or negative items that have not been cleared off your report to continue to drag down your score. Monitoring your credit to make sure it is accurate is crucial to the credit rebuilding process. It is also critical to review your credit to make sure that no fraudulent activity is taking place.

Credit Myth: There is only one FICO score #bustingcreditmyths #creditrepair #LexingtonLaw

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