The Low-down on

FICO Scores

Click to read more on the Equal Credit Opportunity Act at the Federal Trade Commission web site.

One key to success in business is product differentiation. Such is true with credit bureaus. FICO scores are a type of credit score developed by Fair, Isaac & Company. Experian FICO scores use credit bureau information to obtain a score which indicates how likely someone is to make their loan payments on time.

Your score is calculated in a mathematical equation that evaluates information on your credit file compared to information patterns in millions of past credit files.

Millions of consumers' credit bureau records were used to make the scorecards and all of the consumer data - not just negative information - was included to develop the system. FICO scores range from approximately 350 to 850. The higher the score the more likely someone is to make their payments.

For Example

Score

Interest Rate

720 - 850

6.233%

700 - 719

6.358%

675 - 699

6.895%

620 - 674

8.045%

560 - 619

8.531%

500 - 559

9.289%

The better the score, the lower the interest rate. Equifax uses the Beacon score, which is also based on Fair, Isaac & Company's mathematical formulas. Not to be outdone by fancy names,Trans Union names its credit score, "Empirica."

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