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Ok new here but not new to forum world and novice in credit rebuild. Doing LOTS of reading for NEWBS on here. One frustration I have is where can I get my actual FICO scores which financing companies are pulling? Here is an example of my frustration: October 25th I call up AT&T for U-verse set up in a new place I moved into. Hard pull. DONE. Busy with the move and forget all about it until I received the letter in the mail "Hey we pulled your credit blah blah...716 is the score. Still busy with the move threw it in the trash. Today I realized MyFico score on that date was actually 535 (rebuilding remember?). on 11/11 Barclays did a hard pull for a CC app, denied, recon'd, approved. TU Score on that date was 623. All the other free Fako's I have pulling from TU say 591. ARGHHHHH!!!! How the heck am I supposed to know if I'm making ACTUAL progress on FICO scores if everything and everyone is different? I can't keep getting hard pulls for the sake of seeing my scores right!!!! Does MyFICO pull your FICO score and just adjusts THAT pulled FICO score up or down based on activity or does it pull the FICO score again? Sorry I've searched but my eyes are bleeding from all the NEWB reading and i just can't seem to get a specific answer to my question. Bits and pieces of inference is what I'm mostly seeing.

I asked these questions in another forum under a certain pretense, but didn't get a reply. Instead of bumping the thread there, I will ask the direct questions here: I am a subscriber to this service. Once a year, they give me my 3 credit scores; However, they have recently (past year, give/take) merged with Equifax, and thus I get my Equifax score monthly. Is Mint Credit considered a FAKO, or an (at least) "partial FICO" because of their relationship with that one CRA? Anyone aware of the general accuracy? Anyone have actual experiences, pro or con with Mint Credit? I don't mind them but I'm not in love, so if anyone has better monitoring services (I pay $16.99 mo) I'm all ears. Please, no gratuitous sales here; it will benefit the board if you tell us WHY you like "your" service. thank you, all! DUN

So I decided to cancel Smart Credit today. Nothing left to B*, get my FICO from Barclay's, and their FAKO is way off. Before I got to the final cancellation screen online (which is not really the end of the process), it gave me the option to continue as a customer for $4.95 per month going forward instead of the current $9.95, a 50% reduction. I said, 'No thanks'. Then, of course, it tells you that you are all set to be cancelled, but you just have to call Customer Service to confirm...for 'security reasons'. So I did. And the lady was very nice. She offered me a month for free (starting tomorrow through my next month-end date of September 25th), at which time I can call her back and either choose to cancel as I planned to do today, or I could choose to accept the $4.95 offer. If you are paying the $9.95 per month, why not click your way through the cancellation process and see if you can save some money? Dave

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/your-money/credit-scores/vantagescore-ignores-paid-collections-in-setting-a-credit-score.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& I hardly believe it - but then, it's a FAKO score think FICO will take this up?

FAKO Scores vs. FICO Scores, What’s the Difference? http://www.creditsesame.com/blog/fako-scores-vs-fico-scores/?utm_nooverride=1&ref=Newsletter_08/04/2014&utm_campaign=website&utm_source=StrongView&utm_medium=email "...The last several years have seen a considerable change in the credit scoring world and the term FAKO score doesn’t really apply any longer..."

It is a TransUnion FAKO, but FYI.

iCalculator

OK, I know FAKOs are not entirely accurate, and that the changes we sometimes see are not representative of chances to the FICO score, but still... My FAKO dropped 42 points last month when a collection from JDB was added to Experian. It is not anyone I ever heard of, not anyone I had an account with, so I disputed it with Experian. Yes, I know now the right way to handle this, but did not a month ago before I joined this forum. I have since sent a DV letter. Today, I received notification that the collection account was verified. Experian also noted that if I still disagree, I should contact the JDB. Of course, they did not call them THAT. What was odd was that my Experian FAKO dropped ANOTHER 34 points today. None of the information or dates changed, actually nothing in my file changed. So is this just some odd quirk of FAKOs? Is it because it was previously disputed and now it is not? It is all very disheartening, really. One account, not even mine and for less than $400, and down goes the score by 76 points? I basically go from good credit to bad credit in a month, over nothing? And now I can spend the next weeks or months fighting to regain the good credit I earned? And face it, there really is no recourse. No one is going to pay me for the time I spent sitting here unable to get a loan or credit card. No one is held accountable. And what if I finally get it removed after the recent DV? They sell it off to some other JDB and the process repeats? Truly sick of pulling weeds and having more spout up to take their place. Very tired and frustrated.

I am not a PA resident, and do not have a Walmart card. If the score I am getting from Experian is a FAKO, am I correct in my understanding that the only way I will ever find out my true Experian FICO score is by applying somewhere and getting denied? That seems beyond belief to me. Dave

I applied for a credit limit increase with Barclays Bank for my Priceline Visa and asked for $50k and was awarded a total of $10k from my prior $4.5k in December 2012 opening. However, the letter I got with the denial of full amount requested gave a credit score of 647 on 2/12/13 whereas my TransUnion score through Walmart card said 689 on 2/4/13. Did my score really fall that much or are they using a different formula?