# How can I determine my credit score that the people who check it will actually see? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-determine-my-credit-score-that-the-people-who-check-it-will-actually-see/622797 "2012-05-23T06:07:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-determine-my-credit-score-that-the-people-who-check-it-will-actually-see/622797/1 "2012-05-23T06:07:59Z")
I thought I was staying on top of this with a product through Boank of america called Privacy Assist. Part of what they do is show my my credit score from the three agencies—Transunion, Experian and Equifax. But then I discover that the score they BofA relays to me are not the three actual scores. I go to Transunion, and not only is there score different, but there score that they provide to me, a consumer, is not the one that they will provide to, say, an auto dealer or a mortgage broker. That score, is the one they we hear about that is based on a maximum score of 850. But the one they give me after I sign up is one based on a maximum score of 950! What the hell? Then I go purchase my score form Experian for a buck. Again, different score than the one being relayed to me _as the Experian Score_ by BofA. But wait, that shouldn’t be surprising because the Experian Score I paid for was based on a maximum score of 830, not 850. Also, as a national ranking, I’m doing better credit-wise than all but a sliver of the American population. Much better than the “Experian Score” via BofA. How do they get away with making this indecipherable? For God’s sake, isn’t there someplace I can go and see the scores that a banker would see if they looked into my credit? Any place? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-determine-my-credit-score-that-the-people-who-check-it-will-actually-see/622797/2 "2012-05-23T15:12:10Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > How do they get away with making this indecipherable? The magic of the free market. > [@](#): > > For God’s sake, isn’t there someplace I can go and see the scores that a banker would see if they looked into my credit? > > Any place? I don’t know, maybe you can become a bank. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued the following [report](http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/2011/07/Report_20110719_CreditScores.pdf) on just this issue. Now that they have a director, and can actually function as a Bureau, maybe they could require credit agencies to have 1 number, rather than a Bank number and a Consumer number. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-determine-my-credit-score-that-the-people-who-check-it-will-actually-see/622797/3 "2012-05-23T15:47:16Z")
That’s a good question. Credit Karma is a free service that will give you a score that is supposedly _close_ to the real thing, but is not in fact the “true” score either. I figure it’s good enough for me, but it would still be nice to know the “true” score. ---
**Author:** ![blasto9000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc348/32.png) [@blasto9000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blasto9000)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-determine-my-credit-score-that-the-people-who-check-it-will-actually-see/622797/4 "2012-05-23T16:01:40Z")
The most widely accepted score is the FICO score. FICO is the de facto standard for financial and credit institutions. > **[Credit score in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_score_%28United_States%29#Makeup_of_the_FICO_score)** > > A credit score is a number that provides a comparative estimate of an individual's creditworthiness based on an analysis of their credit report. It is an inexpensive and main alternative to other forms of consumer loan underwriting. > Lenders, such as banks and credit card companies, use credit scores to evaluate the risk of lending money to consumers. Lenders contend that widespread use of credit scores has made credit more widely available and less expensive for many consumers. Under the Dod... The credit bureaus – TransUnion, Equifax, Experian – also have their own scoring systems, and they do not use the same algorithm as the FICO. In my opinion, the scores they offer are misrepresented as a standard credit score and borderline fraud. Since your credit reports have nominal variances in reporting history between the three bureaus, you’ll find that the FICO will be different for each. I’m a business analyst for a major automaker and our general policy when checking credit is to use the FICO. Policy is to check all three bureaus, but if the first two come back with a score of 710+, the third is assumed to be “clean” and is not checked. The order the bureaus are checked are at the dealership’s discretion. Generally, credit tiers are broken down into the following brackets: \< 609; 610-659; 660-709; 710+. At the highest tiers your interest rates are lower. At lower tiers not only are the interest rates higher, but dealerships will generally deny access to more expensive vehicles. (Bear in mind the tiers I’ve shown are only applicable to us. Appliance dealers, credit cards, boat/power dealers will all be different, but probably be pretty close.) Having said that, a lot of creditors will check all three bureaus regardless and do a “tri-merge” score, which is basically an averaging of the three FICOs. ---
**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-determine-my-credit-score-that-the-people-who-check-it-will-actually-see/622797/5 "2012-05-24T14:10:47Z")
[MyFico.com](http://MyFico.com) gets you two out of three credit bureaus, with your actual FICO score - the actual score which is used by many of the businesses you deal with. Some businesses don’t use FICO scores at all, or use some variation of the FICO. I don’t know of any way to get those. And one of the credit bureaus stopped letting FICO sell your actual score to consumers, so I don’t know any way to get that one except pretending to be a business and setting up a business account to check. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-determine-my-credit-score-that-the-people-who-check-it-will-actually-see/622797/6 "2012-05-24T16:11:29Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued the following [report](http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/2011/07/Report_20110719_CreditScores.pdf) on just this issue. Now that they have a director, and can actually function as a Bureau, maybe they could require credit agencies to have 1 number, rather than a Bank number and a Consumer number. I read the report (it’s only ~20 pages), and learned a few things I didn’t know about credit scores. I thought I’d post my newfound knowledge here in case anyone else was interested: [ul] [li]Credit scores are actually relative, not absolute; they relect your predicted ability to repay relative to other consumers. So I guess your score can go up in bad times (and down in good times) even if you do nothing personally to alter it.[/li][li]One reason given in the paper for giving different scores to businesses is that these scores are often tailored to the type of credit being requested, i.e. you have a different score if you’re applying for a car loan vs. a mortgage.[/li][li]Thaks to Dodd-Frank, you always have the right to see the lender-provided credit scores if (1) the business denies you credit or revokes/aleters an existing credit arrangement, (2) the lender uses risk-based pricing–i.e. the terms of the credit change based on your score–or (3) for any mortage application.[/li][/ul]