Credit Repair - Self Help

For those that have read any of my previous posts, you will note I show my credit scores as I have progressed through the process. You may be wondering what the difference between what I show as a FICO score and what I show as a FAKO score.

There are basically 2 types of credit scores, FICO and FAKO. Your FICO score is the “official” credit score as reported by Fair Isaac. This is the credit score that the majority of creditors look at when deciding whether to extend you credit or not. The FAKO score uses a different algorithm than does FICO, the FICO algorithm is proprietary. This is why when you look at my FICO scores vs my FAKO scores, there is a difference.

The only sources I know of where you can get your current FICO scores is at MyFICO.com , and Equifax Score Watch. At MyFICO you can get each individual credit score for $15.95 each, so if you want all 3 of them it will cost $47.85. With Equifax Score Watch the cost is $9.95 a month and updates everytime there is a a change. The downside of this is that it only monitors your Equifax FICO score, but can give you a good estimate of where your score is for the other 2 if your reports are similar. You can set up alerts to be notified when changes to your score occur, they can come through e-mail or even a text message to your phone. I personally use Equifax Score Watch to monitor my Equifax FICO score because it updates constantly when changes are made and sends me an alert and is $6 cheaper than MyFICO. About once a quarter I purchase my other two scores from MyFICO to see where they stand. I always use a discount code to get anywhere from %15 to %20 off the cost. You can find discount codes by googling. It is important during the process of credit repair to monitor your scores on a regular basis.

On to FAKO scores, FAKO scores are the credit scores you receive from everywhere else. All the credit monitoring services give you FAKO scores. Creditors do not use FAKO scores to determine whether or not they are going to grant you credit. FAKO scores are algorithms used by the individual credit monitoring service and are not associated with Fair Isaac. Some of the services that give you FAKO scores are your monthly fee services that give you 3 in 1 monitoring such as Truecredit.com, freecreditreport.com, and chaseidentityprotection.com. Please note that a 3 in 1 report is not the same as your individual reports, they are fine for monitoring your credit reports for changes and viewing FAKO scores on a regular basis, but when it comes to thoroughly scrutinizing your credit reports, you need the detailed reports from each credit bureau. I have some opinions about the credit monitoring service Truecredit.com, but will save them for another post. Needless to say, they are less than favorable.

Some other things about your credit scores, FICO scores are tailored for different types of credit such as auto-enhanced or mortgage enhanced FICO scores. You will never see these scores, there is nowhere you can purchase these. These are specially derived just for certain creditors that probably pay large fees to Fair Isaac to have them made.