Fair Isaac, the company that conceived the score known as FICO, says Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, will no longer allow it to sell scores based on Experian’s data. Basically, Fair Isaac is a competitor of Experian, so Experian is going out on its own.
Email from Fair Isaac:
Fair Isaac has long been committed to empowering consumers with information. Besides helping consumers understand and manage their credit profiles, we believe that consumers are entitled to know their FICO® scores from all three major credit bureaus, since these are the scores lenders use to make credit decisions.
We were recently notified that, effective February 14th, Experian will no longer allow consumers to view their FICO® scores based upon Experian data. FICO® scores from Equifax and TransUnion will continue to be available on myFICO.com.
Three myFICO® products will be affected by this change:
- FICO® Credit Complete: No longer available as of February 14th, 2009.
- FICO® Standard: The single Experian FICO® score and report will no longer be available as of February 14th, 2009. You will still be able to obtain FICO® scores and reports from Equifax and TransUnion.
- Suze Orman’s FICO® Kit Platinum: The single Experian FICO® score and report will no longer be available as of February 14th, 2009. You will still be able to obtain FICO® scores and reports from Equifax and TransUnion.
Due to this situation, we must also request that prior to February 14th, 2009 you update all hyperlinks, marketing literature and other materials that you use to be consistent with the product changes described above, and to remove any references you may make in those materials or otherwise that may cause consumers to believe that the products they purchase entitle them to a FICO® score or report from Experian.
It is important to understand that a majority of lenders will continue to use Experian-based FICO® scores to make decisions about credit worthiness, yet these scores will not be available to consumers except for those enrolled in select Fair Isaac Scores on Statements® programs.
If you’re concerned about the fact that consumers will no longer be able to see or manage the scores Experian is selling to lenders, we encourage you to contact Experian directly.
So what does this mean to you?
You could use Experian to get your credit score, but it might be using a different scoring system, and of course different data to base its score upon.
It might be best to use the myFICO.com web site, or use the credit scores from TransUnion and Equifax. If you access your credit score from Experian,
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Please Note, Be Very Cautious About “Credit Repair” Agencies
- An organization that guarantees to remove late payments, bankruptcies, or similar information from a credit report
- An organization that charges a lot of money to repair credit
- A company that asks the consumer to write to the credit reporting company and repeatedly seek verification of the same credit account information in the file, month after month, even though the information has been determined to be correct
- An organization that is reluctant to give out their address or one that pushes you to make a decision immediately
For a helpful brochure about credit clinics, you can write to the Federal Trade Commission, Sixth and Pennsylvania Avenues, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004 and request a brochure titled “Credit Repair: Self Help May Be Best.”
Where can I find out more about credit repair?
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