Understanding The Different Types Of FICO(r) Credit Scores

Before credit scores were developed, lenders use tothus allowing it to be more accurate. The NextGen
physically look over each applicants credit report andFICO is currently being widely adopted by lenders and
credit history to determine whether or not to extendis becoming increasingly popular in retail. NextGen FICO
credit. This process was highly time consuming andcredit score, may be also be referred to the
sometimes resulted in large human errors.PinnacleSM, FICO® Risk Score or Advanced Risk
As a result, Fair Isaac created the credit scoringScore.
formula to help lenders make better judgments moreIndustry Specific FICO Score
quickly. The credit scoring formula looks at manyAs the name suggests certain industries have specific
variables such as total debt to income ratio, types ofFICO credit scores. Normally these scores are
debt, number of late payments and other variables.developed from the Classic FICO or NextGen credit
One thing many people fail to realize is that dependingscore, but they will have a little different predictive
on the type of loan you are applying for, you may findweighting on variables that are specific to the industry.
your FICO credit score differs quite drastically. TheYou may see industry specific credit scores for auto,
reason for this is that lenders use various versions ofbankcard, finance and installment products.
the Fair Isaac FICO scores. The goal of this article is toCallScoreTM
provide an understanding of the different types ofA CallScore is used primarily in the UK. It is designed to
credit scores you may see when applying for credit.keep records and measure the probability of UK
Classic FICO®consumers to repay their credit and not default. As
The Classic FICO credit score has traditionally beendefined by Fair Isaac® "CallScore leverages
the most common type of credit scores used by mostCallCredit's database of UK consumer credit profiles
lenders. Each year billions of lending decisions per yearand demographic information, in combination with Fair
are being measured using the Classic FICO score. IfIsaac's predictive analytic expertise, to assess each
you are looking for a mortgage loan, car loan,consumer's relative likelihood of default."
motorcycle loan or other consumer loans it is likely thatOverall, consumers should understand that the credit
the lender will use a Classic FICO credit score. Thescore which are bought from the credit reporting
Classic FICO credit score is sometimes referred to asagencies may differ from the credit scores lenders
Beacon®, FICO Risk Score®, or Empirica®are using to decide the terms of their loan request.
depending on the credit reporting agency.The above credit score types provide consumers an
NexGen FICO® Risk Scoreoverview of which type of credit scores they may
The NexGen FICO risk score is an off shoot of theface when applying for credit.
Classic FICO credit score aimed at reducing the risk ofCopyright (c) 2005, by Jay Fran This article may be
lenders while also allowing them to increase theirfreely distributed as long as the copyright, author's
approval rate. The NextGen FICO looks at far moreinformation and the below active live link is published
predictive variables than the Classic FICO credit scorewith the article.