Your FICO Score is a credit score. But if your FICO score is different from another of your credit scores, it may be that the score you're viewing was calculated using one of the other scoring models that exist.
FICO® and VantageScore® are the two most popular credit scoring models today. The credit scores they assign are equally reliable and accurate, based on the specific credit scoring model that's being used.
And so specifically, the most likely explanation for having different FICO scores reported is because you've been continuing to use your credit cards. If you stop using all of your credit cards, then the FICO scores reported to you by different credit card issuers will be much more consistent.
New payment behavior is a common cause for credit-score fluctuation. Additionally, when making payments on an installment loan, mortgage or auto loan, you are decreasing the amount of overall debt. That could also cause an increase in your credit score.
Reasons Why Your Credit Score Changed
As long as you make your payments on time, your credit scores will tend to increase, even if you do nothing else. Reduced borrowing limit: If you go a long time without using a credit card, the lender could close the account or lower its borrowing limit.
VantageScore vs.
FICO scores are the most widely used scores used by lenders to determine the creditworthiness of consumers. This means more institutions use FICO over any other scoring model to decide if someone should get a loan, mortgage, or any other credit product.
Credit Karma's credit scores are VantageScores, a competitor to the more widely used FICO scores. Those scores are based on the information in your credit reports from Equifax and TransUnion, two of the three major credit bureaus. Your Credit Karma score should be relatively close to your FICO score.
VantageScore. The VantageScore model—specifically Version 3.0 which is the most widely used—considers similar factors to the FICO score model.
What is the highest credit score possible? To start off: No, it's not possible to have a 900 credit score in the United States. In some countries that use other models, like Canada, people could have a score of 900. The current scoring models in the U.S. have a maximum of 850.
And when it comes to credit, 850 is the highest the FICO® Score☉ scale goes. For more and more U.S. consumers, practice is making perfect. According to recent Experian data, 1.54% of consumers have a "perfect" FICO® Score of 850. That's up from 1.31% two years earlier.
Your credit reports from Experian, TransUnion and Equifax could have different information because creditors can choose which bureau(s) they want to report to, as well as what they report and when. As a result, the same scoring model could give you different credit scores based on each of your three credit reports.
The two big credit scoring models used by auto lenders are FICO® Auto Score and Vantage. We're going to take at look at FICO® since it has long been the auto industry standard.
Have you seen both of your scores and questioned, “Why is my VantageScore® different than my FICO® Score?” It's because there are differences in how each company weighs categories and information within their own scoring models. This can result in slightly different scores.
What Credit Score Do You Need for a No Down Payment Home Loan? If you're hoping to purchase a home without a down payment, you'll have to prove a specific income and have a credit score that's at least in the mid-600 range.
This is because Credit Karma makes use of another credit scoring model compared to many lenders and possibly does not have access to all the data required to calculate your credit score.
Your score falls in the range of scores, from 800 to 850, that is considered Exceptional. Your FICO® Score and is well above the average credit score. Consumers with scores in this range may expect easy approvals when applying for new credit. 21% of all consumers have FICO® Scores in the Exceptional range.
Your credit score is a major factor in whether you'll be approved for a car loan. Some lenders use specialized credit scores, such as a FICO Auto Score. In general, you'll need at least prime credit, meaning a credit score of 661 or up, to get a loan at a good interest rate.
Using more of your credit card balance than usual — even if you pay on time — can reduce your score until a new, lower balance is reported the following month. Closed accounts and lower credit limits can also result in lower scores even if your payment behavior has not changed.
The three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—all update credit scores at least once a month. However, there isn't a specific day of the month when your credit report is guaranteed to refresh. Instead, credit score updates depend on when creditors report your payments to the credit bureaus.
That is because the TransUnion credit scoring model is usually stricter than other ones. They take into consideration many credit factors such as your personal information, employment history, credit history, credit limits, financial story, and so on, which further makes it lower.