Do They Add All Three Credit Score Points Together?
Good question about a somewhat confusing topic. While it's true you have three different credit scores produced by three different reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax), your scores do not get added together.
When considering you for a loan, lenders will typically review two out of the three scores to get a composite / average score. Or they'll just take the middle number and leave it at that.
When you hear the term "FICO score" used, it refers to any credit score produced through the FICO scoring model. It's short for Fair Isaac Corporation by the way -- that's the company who developed the scoring model. To make matters even more confusing, the three different credit bureaus give their own names to the FICO credit scores they produce (Equifax refers to theirs as the Beacon score, for example).
Here's what it all boils down too:
- Three are three credit reporting agencies in the U.S., and each of the produces some version of the FICO score.
- So you have three different scores, and they won't always match.
- Your scores do not get added up. Instead, most lenders take the middle score, or an average of all three.
- The FICO score is the one most commonly used by mortgage lenders in the U.S. So it's important to know where you stand with this score.
How long does it take to raise your credit score points?
The second part of your question is not as easy for me to answer, because it depends on many variables. For example, how long is your credit history? How much of the information on your credit report is positive, and how much is negative? How active are you about raising your credit score points? The articles below will give you a better idea of how it all works, and what you can do to raise your score quickly.
Related Q&A sessions:
- How Raise Your Credit Score Fast in 2009
- How Long Does It Take to Improve a Score?
- What Does Three Credit Reporting Mean?
Hope that helps you out.
Labels: scores
posted by Brandon at
7:03 AM
