No Score for You on Valentine's Day!

By now, most of the world has heard of something called a FICO score. For the past few years, kids have heard about the “score” on various MTV shows and such. They may not have understood everything about it, but they know that a bad score affects your ability to but stuff. Apparently tomorrow, on Valentine’s Day, you will no longer be able to get your FICO credit score from Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus.

The company notified Fair Isaac Corp., the firm that created the credit-scoring model most used by lenders, that it is terminating its relationship with MyFICO.com, a Web site that sold FICO credit scores and other information directly to consumers. This means generally that Experian customers will not be able to see the FICO scores that lenders are using in determining their credit levels.

Experian is choosing to use a new scoring model called VantageScore, which has been a work in progress between all three credit repositories – Experian, Equifax & Trans Union. To the best of my knowledge, most lenders are still using FICO predominantly, but this is yet another example on why being financially literate is so important.

If you are applying for a loan or being evaluated for a new job, you should know what scoring model is being used and what the numbers mean. It also means that going forward, you need to stay on top of the scores to make sure the information remains accurate.
Here’s a Washington Post piece that describes this a little more. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/11/AR2009021103621.html?wprss=rss_business/personalfinance

On a lighter side, here’s a clip of a TV show that aired in 1969 – Happy Valentine’s Day!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrBe09SIENA