Does the Type of Credit Score Matter?

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Experian, TransUnion and Equifax now offer all U.S. consumers free weekly credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com.

If your credit scores are high, you're seen as a low credit risk—meaning you're likely to repay your debt as agreed. Alternatively, if your credit scores are low, you're considered a higher risk in lenders' eyes. And while you have dozens—or even hundreds—of credit scores, if your credit reports reflect positive credit behavior, then all of your scores will likely be good regardless of the score brand or version.

What Is a Credit Score?

A credit score is a three-digit number usually ranging from 300 to 850 that lenders use to predict your credit risk. A credit score takes into account the information appearing on your credit reports as maintained by the three national credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax). Information that is not on your credit reports is not considered by credit scoring models.

What Are the Main Credit Scoring Models?

There are two commonly used brands of credit scores in the U.S. consumer credit environment: FICO^®, named for the Fair Isaac Corp., and VantageScore^® . Collectively, these two scoring brands account for over 20 billion scores used annually.

VantageScore

VantageScore credit scores have been around since 2006. There have been four versions of this credit score: VantageScore 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0. Each VantageScore version is a single model used by all three national credit reporting agencies. As a result, if your credit reports are identical across all three agencies (which is unlikely), your VantageScore credit scores would also be identical.

FICO^® Score^☉

It's not as simple when it comes to FICO. FICO, the company, has been around since 1956, but its credit bureau scores debuted in 1989. Since then, it has released several dozen scoring models that are commercially available and in use in the United States.

FICO's scores are developed independently for each of the three credit reporting agencies. Each FICO^® Score version includes a generic version for use by any lender, called the "base" FICO^® Score. There are also different variants of the FICO^® Score, formally referred to as FICO^® Industry Adjusted Scores, which are semi-customized scoring models created for use by specific industries such as auto lending and credit card issuing. The recently announced FICO^® Score 10 Suite is the most recent FICO^® scoring model.

Where Can I Get My Credit Scores?

With so many credit scores out there, there's little chance all of them are the same, though they are likely to be similar.

There is no shortage of places where consumers can go to see their credit scores. Some are free and some are not. The credit reporting agencies all either sell credit scores or provide them at no cost. There are also various third-party websites that will either sell you a score or give you a free credit score in exchange for you becoming a registered user of their site. And finally, many financial institutions have partnered with either FICO^® or the credit reporting agencies to give away either FICO^® or VantageScore branded scores. For example:

Credit Score Providers
Provider	Type of Score	Cost
Experian	FICO^® Score 8	Free
Experian	Experian VantageScore 3.0	$7.95
Credit.com	Experian VantageScore 3.0	Free
myFICO.com	Varies by product	Varies by product
CreditKarma	VantageScore 3.0 from both Equifax and TransUnion credit reports	Free
CreditSesame	VantageScore 3.0 from TransUnion	Free
Equifax	FICO^® Score 5 based on Equifax report	$14.95/month
TransUnion	VantageScore 3.0 based on TransUnion report	$24.94/Month
NerdWallet	VantageScore 3.0 based on TransUnion report	Free
Discover	FICO^® Score 8 based on TransUnion report	Free

Are There Other Types of Scores?

While the FICO^® and VantageScore credit scoring models certainly get most of the attention, there are other types of scores in use today. Some other examples include:

Insurance risk scores: An insurance risk score predicts either the likelihood that you will file an insurance claim or that you will be an otherwise less profitable insurance customer. FICO^® builds insurance risk scores, as does LexisNexis.
Collection scores: A collection score, used by debt collectors, ranks debtors based on their likelihood of paying their collection account debts. FICO^® creates collection scores.
Custom scores: Custom scores are credit scoring models built for use by one party, usually a lender or an insurance company. Custom scoring systems can take into account credit report data, credit application data and even other credit scores. Most mid- to large-sized lenders use custom scoring systems, as well as garden variety credit bureau scores.
Bankruptcy scores: Bankruptcy scores are designed to predict the likelihood that you'll file for bankruptcy protection.

How to Improve Your Credit Scores

While there are numerous credit risk scores that fall under the FICO^® and VantageScore brands, they all consider the same information: your credit report data. Simply put, if you have great credit reports, you're going to have great credit scores, regardless of the score brand, variation or generation. And while the FICO^® and VantageScore credit scores max out at 850, scores in the mid-to-high 700s are generally considered to be excellent.

Credit scoring models use roughly five categories of information to calculate credit scores. Both the FICO^® and VantageScore scoring systems use the following metrics:

Payment history: How reliably you make on-time payments is very influential to your credit scores, accounting for 35% to 40% of your score. Negative information that could appear here includes late payments, bankruptcy, collections, foreclosures, repossessions and any record of account defaults. If you can avoid these negative events, you'll be well on your way to earning and maintaining great credit scores.
Credit utilization and other debt-related metrics: A common misconception about credit scores is that as long as you make your payments on time, you'll have great scores. Your debt load is also a very influential component of your credit scores. In fact, this category accounts for about one-third of your credit scores.
This category considers the number of accounts with balances, your credit card balances relative to their limits (known as your credit utilization ratio), the percentage of your loan balances relative to loan amounts, and the amounts you owe across different types of accounts. In both the VantageScore 4.0 and FICO^® 10T credit scores, your trended balance data is also considered.
Inquiries, credit age and account types: These three categories account for the remaining roughly one-third of your credit score calculation. Individually these categories are the least influential, but if you want top credit scores, then they are important.

These categories consider the number of inquiries on your credit reports in the past 12 months, the age of your oldest account (the more credit history you have, the better), the average age of your accounts, and the mix of account types on your credit reports.

Building Great Credit

Credit scores are commonly used by lenders and other service providers, and have been for decades. They are a numeric representation of the quality of your credit reports. If you have top credit scores, then you will have greater access to competitively priced credit from lenders.

To earn great credit scores, you need to follow a simple routine: Make all of your payments on time, always; maintain low or no credit card debt; and only apply for credit when you need it. If you can do these things, then your credit scores—all of them—will reflect your positive credit behavior.

How Good Is Your Credit Score?

300 credit score 301 credit score 302 credit score 303 credit score 304 credit score 305 credit score 306 credit score 307 credit score 308 credit score 309 credit score 310 credit score 311 credit score 312 credit score 313 credit score 314 credit score 315 credit score 316 credit score 317 credit score 318 credit score 319 credit score 320 credit score 321 credit score 322 credit score 323 credit score 324 credit score 325 credit score 326 credit score 327 credit score 328 credit score 329 credit score 330 credit score 331 credit score 332 credit score 333 credit score 334 credit score 335 credit score 336 credit score 337 credit score 338 credit score 339 credit score 340 credit score 341 credit score 342 credit score 343 credit score 344 credit score 345 credit score 346 credit score 347 credit score 348 credit score 349 credit score 350 credit score 351 credit score 352 credit score 353 credit score 354 credit score 355 credit score 356 credit score 357 credit score 358 credit score 359 credit score 360 credit score 361 credit score 362 credit score 363 credit score 364 credit score 365 credit score 366 credit score 367 credit score 368 credit score 369 credit score 370 credit score 371 credit score 372 credit score 373 credit score 374 credit score 375 credit score 376 credit score 377 credit score 378 credit score 379 credit score 380 credit score 381 credit score 382 credit score 383 credit score 384 credit score 385 credit score 386 credit score 387 credit score 388 credit score 389 credit score 390 credit score 391 credit score 392 credit score 393 credit score 394 credit score 395 credit score 396 credit score 397 credit score 398 credit score 399 credit score 400 credit score 401 credit score 402 credit score 403 credit score 404 credit score 405 credit score 406 credit score 407 credit score 408 credit score 409 credit score 410 credit score 411 credit score 412 credit score 413 credit score 414 credit score 415 credit score 416 credit score 417 credit score 418 credit score 419 credit score 420 credit score 421 credit score 422 credit score 423 credit score 424 credit score 425 credit score 426 credit score 427 credit score 428 credit score 429 credit score 430 credit score 431 credit score 432 credit score 433 credit score 434 credit score 435 credit score 436 credit score 437 credit score 438 credit score 439 credit score 440 credit score 441 credit score 442 credit score 443 credit score 444 credit score 445 credit score 446 credit score 447 credit score 448 credit score 449 credit score 450 credit score 451 credit score 452 credit score 453 credit score 454 credit score 455 credit score 456 credit score 457 credit score 458 credit score 459 credit score 460 credit score 461 credit score 462 credit score 463 credit score 464 credit score 465 credit score 466 credit score 467 credit score 468 credit score 469 credit score 470 credit score 471 credit score 472 credit score 473 credit score 474 credit score 475 credit score 476 credit score 477 credit score 478 credit score 479 credit score 480 credit score 481 credit score 482 credit score 483 credit score 484 credit score 485 credit score 486 credit score 487 credit score 488 credit score 489 credit score 490 credit score 491 credit score 492 credit score 493 credit score 494 credit score 495 credit score 496 credit score 497 credit score 498 credit score 499 credit score 500 credit score 501 credit score 502 credit score 503 credit score 504 credit score 505 credit score 506 credit score 507 credit score 508 credit score 509 credit score 510 credit score 511 credit score 512 credit score 513 credit score 514 credit score 515 credit score 516 credit score 517 credit score 518 credit score 519 credit score 520 credit score 521 credit score 522 credit score 523 credit score 524 credit score 525 credit score 526 credit score 527 credit score 528 credit score 529 credit score 530 credit score 531 credit score 532 credit score 533 credit score 534 credit score 535 credit score 536 credit score 537 credit score 538 credit score 539 credit score 540 credit score 541 credit score 542 credit score 543 credit score 544 credit score 545 credit score 546 credit score 547 credit score 548 credit score 549 credit score 550 credit score 551 credit score 552 credit score 553 credit score 554 credit score 555 credit score 556 credit score 557 credit score 558 credit score 559 credit score 560 credit score 561 credit score 562 credit score 563 credit score 564 credit score 565 credit score 566 credit score 567 credit score 568 credit score 569 credit score 570 credit score 571 credit score 572 credit score 573 credit score 574 credit score 575 credit score 576 credit score 577 credit score 578 credit score 579 credit score

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Does the Type of Credit Score Matter?

In this article:

What Is a Credit Score?

What Are the Main Credit Scoring Models?

VantageScore

FICO^® Score^☉

Where Can I Get My Credit Scores?

Are There Other Types of Scores?

How to Improve Your Credit Scores

Building Great Credit

What Makes a Good Credit Score?

How Good Is Your Credit Score?

Resources

Latest Research

Latest Reviews

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Credit advice

Most popular

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Credit scores

Improving credit

Establishing credit

Identity Theft support

Identity Theft Advice

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In this article:

What Is a Credit Score?

What Are the Main Credit Scoring Models?

VantageScore

FICO® Score☉

Where Can I Get My Credit Scores?

Are There Other Types of Scores?

How to Improve Your Credit Scores

Building Great Credit

What Makes a Good Credit Score?

How Good Is Your Credit Score?

Resources

Latest Research

Latest Reviews

FICO^® Score^☉