Fair Isaacs my ass
Apr 13th, 2005 by Jason
Hoping to move out of House v1.0 in the next year or two, I’ve been really watching my FICO score lately.
When you buy Microsoft Money, they give you a free year of Experian, so I’ve been checking that monthly. Oddly enough, as I pay down my credit cards, my FICO score keeps going up. Yay!
But since it seems like 90% of the world uses Equifax, I signed up with them tonight to see what those guys thought of my FICO score. It was 70 points (!!!!) lower than my Experian score. 
Both companies have the same information, so where the flip is the discrepancy?!?! Grrrrrr (shakes fists at Equifax)
FWIW, even though they obviously hate me, I’d recommend Equifax’s FICO website over Experian’s — lots more tools and explanations (of everything except why they’re so stingy with the points). 
While this has nothing to do with FICO scores, you really should check out two places before you start shopping for House V2.0.
One is http://www.lottalivin.com and the other is http://www.atomic-ranch.com. Atomic-Ranch is lots and lots of eye-candy. LottaLivin, well, it’s a bunch of well meaning opinionated mid-century modern house owners with lots of cool pictures in their galleries, and some good before and after stuff within the forums. Most of these folks don’t have lots of $$ to spend, so they’re great when it comes to the do-it-yourself aspect of making the house you have into the home you want.
What ever you do, don’t buy a McMansion!
Oh, and while I’m at it, you have to see the web site for this local restaurant/bar/lounge/music venue/motel called The DougFir. If you ever visit Portland again, you will have to visit the Doug Fir. I promise, I’m paying for that trip with all the TUACA you can quaff! It’s in a pretty divey part of town - 8th and Burnside EASTSIDE. They also have some kind of homo dance party nights. Not that it would interest you or anything.
http://www.dougfirlounge.com
Carol, Happily drinking a bottle of “Mad Housewife” Chardonnay. (They were out of the Cabernet, so I settled, however it does have the higher alcohol %.)
http://www.rainierwine.com/Brands/MadHousewife/madhousewife.html
Any typos in this comment are the sole responsibility of Mad Housewife Chardonnay.
OK, this homo don’t dance, so we’ll leave it there. HOLY CRAP, dougfirlounge looks hot hot hot hot hot. Ergh. We have, well … nothing … out here that even comes close to being that fabulous. Le Sigh
Mad Housewife, huh? Never really thought of you as a housewife. (ducking)
And damn you woman for showing me those two house sites. Now I’m going to want to covert this townhouse into a deco-ranch before moving.
Oh drafting boy….
Nope, I’m not a mad housewife, I just dream of having a housewife some day.
You know, someone to keep the ranch tidy, and cook up the fondue for the fab dinner parties we’d have. I’d make the drinks.
You know, for the right price, you might be able to hire Jason for that. Well, .. maybe. Not so much for the cleaning, but he’d kick ass cooking for ya’ll.
I think the commuting expenses would be prohibitive.
If we’re getting a housewife, we can add a wing just for them. We have the space on the property.
“A housewife” … “wing just for them”. Hmmmmmmmmmm
And commuting to Portland would only take half-an-hour longer than it takes to get to Norfolk. On a Friday. During the summer. When the tourist slow to .5 mph to see a NAVY carrier floating across the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. During rush hour.
I don’t know exactly how you got your scores - but here are some facts.
Equifaxs’ “BEACON” score is the ONLY credit reporting agency that uses a actual FICO model to calculate your credit score. That is, your Equifax Beacon score is also your actual FICO score.
Transunion and (in your case) Experian both sell credit scores that ARE NOT your actual FICO score - In Experians case they call it your “PLUS” score. This is something that should be outlawed, because Experian and Transunion have been allowed to dupe people into buying their credit scores - and naturally people are assuming that these credit scores are the same ones that lenders see - when in fact the lenders see what is called a FICO score - or Fair Isaacs score. Experian is selling a score that is NOT your actual score - is worthless and is based on their own “made up” scoring model. This is why your Equifax score (WHICH IS YOUR ACTUAL FICO SCORE) is different from your Experian score - even though both reports have the absolute same information.
THE ONLY WEBSITE THAT SELLS YOUR ACTUAL FICO SCORES FOR ALL 3 CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES IS http://www.myfico.com - Unfortunately they charge alot for what we should all be able to see for free. However, it is worth knowing your score.
If you go there and get your scores for all 3 reports, you will see your equifax and experian score be much closer together - if not match completely. but keep in mind that even little discrepancies - such as inquiries, different credit card balances, etc., will make one score different than another.
GOOD LUCK MAN!
Thanks for the heads up, David.
Wow. Michael remembered that somewhere on this blog was the ‘real true fico’ score info. BINGO.
It’s also hysterically funny reading this a year + later.
No mad housewife tonight.