There are obviously no love lost between Experian, one of the three credit bureaus, and Fair Isaac, the company that created the FICO scores. We were informed today by e-mail by Fair Isaac dated 14 February 2009 (yes - Valentine's Day), consumers will no longer be able to buy or access in any way their Experian FICO score. It seems Experian has terminated the agreement which enabled Fair Isaac to give consumers their FICO score Experian effective February 14. In the mail:
Fair Isaac has long been engaged to allow consumers to information. In addition to helping consumers understand and manage their credit profiles, we believe that consumers have the right to know their FICO® scores from all three major credit bureaus, since these are the scores lenders use to make credit decisions.
We were recently notified that, effective February 14, Experian no longer allow consumers to view their FICO® scores based on Experian data. FICO® scores from Equifax and TransUnion will continue to be available on myFICO.com.
There were lawsuits pending between the two companies that have clearly not helped to promote agreements in progress. Experian has tried for years to overthrow the FICO score that the main credit score lenders and consumers seem to want. Due to the high FICO score, Fair Isaac has been able to make most of the profits on Experian FICO scores sold. Apparently Experian finally had enough.
This is obviously bad news from the consumer's point of view. FICO scores are the most common type of credit scores used by lenders and it is very valuable for you to know all three of your scores. Lenders will still be able to use your Experian FICO score to assess your credit worthiness, you will not be able to know what the score is. However, consumers will still be able to obtain credit ratings Experian, but not the FICO scores Experian, and most types of credit ratings will be very good approximation of your FICO score. In fact, our credit monitoring service top-rated, Identity Guard Total Protection, will continue to give you three scores and free credit reports' offices when you sign up for a free 30 day trial. See our comparison of credit monitoring services to see other options.
But for those of you who want to know all three of your FICO scores, you must act quickly! You can still buy them MyFICO with FICO Full credit until February 14. You will still be able to get your Equifax and TransUnion scores by myFICO.com beyond that date. Come Valentine's Day, however, the volatile relationship and Experian FICO is complete and the ability to know for sure your Experian FICO score will be a thing of the past.