Welcome to CreditScore.Info

Credit Score is presented as a generic word utilized by any and every financial institution involved in the act of calculating and interpreting various credit files. The three chief credit bureaus has its own adaptation of a credit score; Equifax possesses BEACON, Experian takes pride of their PLUS, and TransUnion has its EMPIRICA.

Now, where does FICO credit score enter the scene? What is FICO anyway? Well, FICO is a brand of credit score developed by Fair Isaac Corporation (thus the acronym FICO), which shows figures ranging from 300 up to the maximum credit score possible which is 850. The higher the score, the lower the risk you are to your creditors. Ergo, the better the chance that your loan will be approved coupled with lax interest rates and little to no miscellaneous fees.

In this FICO game, we all crave any number within the sphere of 700 to 800. According to an E-loan institution, a consumer grasping a whapping 720 could probably acquire a credit score car loan amounting to $20,000.00, which could be paid through monthly installments of approximately $350.00 for 5 years. However, if you have a 580 credit score, the monthly payment could amount to something like $500.00.

Ok, enough with the FICO score. Given all of these, the credit reporting agencies and the Fair Isaac credit score, though bearing different names, are all essentially the same. Majority uses the five main anchors to arrive at a credit score; these are your payment history, debt to credit ratio, extent of credit history, new credit, and types of credit in use.

Differences in credit scores among the credit bureaus are but inevitable. Fact is, every business has its own independent records and data. And generally, a person from Equifax will not divulge the records that he is holding to those from Experian or TransUnion. And it is also viable that the data were collected in different time frames.

What many individuals do not know is that credit score calculators are activated only at the time the request is made. With this said, if any data in your financial file was changed, the score will adjust with it. Hence, if you update your credit file on a day-to-day basis, then your credit score will reflect daily changes as well. You may have an outstanding Fair Isaac credit score but a mediocre Plus Score.

With the possibility of having disparity among the credit scores dispersed by the different agencies, it is but proper that lenders get the average of all of these credit scores (FICO, PLUS, BEACON, & EMPIRICA) in order to obtain the most accurate perception of one’s credit worthiness. Unfortunately, common sense is not so common after all. A lot of businesses use only one credit bureau to access a consumer’s credit score, presumably to save some cash.

For the latter, this could be an advantage or a drawback---depending upon the score, that is. If the company was able to pull a credit score utilizing an agency with which you have the highest credit score, then all is well in your quest to obtain a loan with favorable terms. But if it is the opposite, then it seems that lady luck just left you with a quite severe interest rate or worse, downright denying your application for a loan.

Here comes the tricky part, how can a consumer know the bureau that the lending company uses? To be honest, there exists no clear list that shows what credit reporting agency that a particular firm uses. So the only option left is asking the financial institution with regards to the matter. Some would openly talk about their preferred bureau while most would prefer not to.

If you were able to crack the safe and know what lender uses what bureau, then you can check your score ahead of time (of course this additional service demands that you shed some cash). With this in your arsenal, you can confidently walk in the doors of lending institutions knowing that you are credit worthy.

To sum everything up, credit scores are ever changing. Each agency is different, ergo, your credit scores with these various bureaus will demonstrate discrepancies. Remember that businesses do not practice average credit score where scores from the three agencies will be totaled and divided thrice. A high credit score from Equifax will not pull a poor TransUnion score. Last piece of advice is to understand and be familiar with your own scores and from there you can take control of your credit.