Friday, February 6, 2009

Look fast if you want to see all your FICO credit scores

Fair Isaac, the FICO credit score people, and Experian, one of the three big company tracking your credit history are having a business spat.

Big surprise, but consumers will be the biggest losers. Basically, they will go blind trying to find one of three credit scores their lenders are looking at.

Briefly, Experian next week is ending an agreement with Fair Isaac that allowed MyFICO.com customers see the same credit scores that Experian and the other two biggest keepers of your credit history, Equifax and TransUnion, provided to lenders.

After Feb. 13, MyFICO customers can still see their credit scores based on their Equifax and TransUnion histories at myFICO, but will need to go to Experian's site to see that score there. What's also new is that the Experian score you see may be different from the one Experian gives to lenders. Some of those three-for-one credit reporting deals we've been buying online may be affected too.

The timing of all this is horrible as lenders raise lending standards for everything from credit cards and auto loans to home mortgages.

Fair Isaac has posted some frequently asked questions to help us through the roughest spots.

Free annual credit reports - credit histories without scores - from all three companies are still available. Checking each of those for accuracy once a year will help you spot potential trouble, but won't show you clearly how a lender sees you.

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