No more Experian FICO scores for consumers

**Denvergirlie** · 02-10-2009, 06:10 PM

I was on some finance boards/ blogs today and saw a bunch of enteries about how Experian has pulled out of it's contract with Fair Issacs to provide consumers access to their FICO scores.

After Feb 13th, a normal consumer will not be allowed to order their own credit score (from Experian, can still get TransUnion and Equifax), only banks and credit grantors will be able to pull.

So if anyone was thinking about pulling their credit scores, now might be a good time to do so.

More about this at these links:
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/bo...t&thread.id=10

http://www.smartmoney.com/Spending/D...rom-Consumers/

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/mone...87/detail.html

Supposedly, they will still sell their own Vantage score, but it's based differently from a FICO score, although supposedly more "consumer" friendly... not that it really matters as credit grantors actually use the FICO score's .....

So if you do apply for credit, the bank or credit grantor can tell you want your Experian score is, but you as the consumer will no longer have the ability to access it yourself....

opps... maybe I should have posted this under "credit" but also know that this place might get the most notice out to the most people, but Mods please feel free to move if desired.

**ladykemma2** · 02-10-2009, 08:00 PM

ok so if i pay them $15 every month for the "free credit report dot com" -- does anyone know how this is going to effect this report. i have a very common name and monitor my report pretty closely.

**annertak** · 02-10-2009, 10:38 PM

I would think that if they pull out of the Fair Issacs that they wouldn't be used as much as a credit pull for most things. Just a thought, but if they are out on their own, who determines that their info is credible?

**Denvergirlie** · 02-10-2009, 10:59 PM

Originally Posted by annertak

I would think that if they pull out of the Fair Issacs that they wouldn't be used as much as a credit pull for most things. Just a thought, but if they are out on their own, who determines that their info is credible?

Experian FICO score will still exsist, it's just that the consumer will no longer be able to request the score, only the credit grantor.

**Greebo** · 02-11-2009, 05:47 AM

A few things:
1) Don't go to Free Credit Report Dot Com. It is nothing more than a front to get you to sign up for a subscription and requires a credit card to get your report. Go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com - that site has no charge at all.

2) Don't confuse FICO scores with Credit Report. When you get just your credit report, no score is given. Your credit report is a detailed history of your debts, delinquencies, payoffs, balances, and payment history. Your FICO score is just an interpretation of that report.

3) Experian's own scoring model is very stupid, IMO. Prosper.com uses it to evaluate borrowers, and I've literally seen people with bankruptcies and delinquencies get rated as a B or better based solely on debt-to-equity ratio. I can't tell you how many lenders I know who didn't read the details, looked at just the grade and thought, "Ohh, this guys a B, he's a good risk", put their own personal money in and then got screwed when "that guy" never made a payment.

And of course - don't obsess on your FICO score anyway because you're better off being debt free than having a good "I Love Debt!!!" score.

**Ms. Clear** · 02-14-2009, 02:48 PM

ITA Greebo. I don't know what my credit score is and I don't care. We have no credit card debt. That's the only number I'm concerned about. Well, paying off that student loan too, but that will happen.