This is the fourth part of our credit score comparison series week one: FICO Vs PLUS, week two: FICO Vs VantageScore, week three: FICO Vs CE score). This week we are going to look the FICO score and Experian’s National Equivalency Score which is offered for free by Credit Sesame.
Comparison Table
| FICO Score | Experian National Equivalency Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Score | 300 | 360 |
| Maximum Score | 850 | 840 |
| Median Score | 723 | N/A |
| CRAs the score is based on | EX, EQ & TU | EX |
| Available to Individuals | Yes | Yes |
| Acessible for Free | Yes | Yes |
| Used by Lenders | Yes | Yes |
| Scoring Criteria | ||
| Payment History | 35.00% | 35.00% |
| Credit Utilization | 30.00% | 30.00% |
| Length of Credit History | 15.00% | 15.00% |
| Types of Credit used | 10.00% | 10.00% |
| Recent Searches for New Credit | 10.00% | 10.00% |
As you can see the scoring criteria are exactly the same for the two scores. This is not technically 100% true, Experian & Credit Sesame have never actually publicly stated the scoring criteria for the Equivalency score. They’ve only stated that it tries to emulate FICO, so we’ve assumed that their criteria would be the same.
The scores do have a scoring range difference, with the equivalency score having a slightly higher minimum score (360 vs FICO’s 350) and a slightly lower maximum score (840 vs FICO’s 840). Both scores are available to lenders, although the equivalency isn’t used by any creditors currently and FICO is used in 90% of lending decisions.
The equivalency score is available for free from Credit Sesame and this score is automatically updated monthly, they also provide you with a summary of your Experian report. FICO score’s are also available for free but take a bit more work to get them, here is a complete list of ways to get yours.
How Do The Scores Compare?
As the name suggests the Experian National Equivalency Score is based on data found in the Experian credit report so I pulled my Experian (04) score from myFICO for $15.95 using a promo code to get my FICO score. I then signed up to Credit Sesame to get my Equivalency score.
| FICO | Equivalency Score | |
|---|---|---|
| My Score | 821 | 833 |
I’m pretty proud of my Equivalency score, being only 7 points below the maximum. The fact that lenders don’t use the score does lessen how proud I am though, I’d much rather my FICO was higher.
Personally I see little point in tracking your Equivalency score or signing up for Credit Sesame. Although as Credit Sesame is free to join and no monthly fees, there is very little reason to not give it a go.
I’d personally just stick to checking your FICO score when you’re about to apply for a loan and being signed up to Credit Karma (for VantageScore which some lenders do look at) and Quizzle (they also provide V3 of VantageScore, and an extra two credit reports can be useful if you’re engaging in credit repair).
The websites mentioned seem to switch their score/bureau every so often, so as this article is from 2013, a quick update as to what is going on. Credit.com currently show Experian National equivalency and Experian Vantage 3.0. Karma give both Transunion and Equifax Vantage 3.0. Across the board the Vantages are nearly the same (make sure the report dates line up). The National Equivalency seems to skew 20ish points higher (after having watched them all for a couple of months).
There are some serious flaws in this article. Here’s what they state: The scores do have a scoring range difference, with the equivalency score having a slightly higher minimum score (360 vs FICO’s 350) and a slightly lower maximum score (840 vs. FICO’s 840). Both scores are available to lenders, although the equivalency isn’t used by any creditors currently and FICO is used in 90% of lending decisions. Yet their comparison table shows this:
Minimum Score FICO 300 Experian National Equivalency 360
Maximum Score FICO 850 Experian National Equivalency 840
Overall, informative article, but they need to be more careful in their text to make sure it matches their comparison tables.
I haven’t purchased any credit reports from EX, EQ or TU, but I signed up at credit.com and received an Experian National Equivalency Score of 763, which the website tells me is almost in the middle of the Excellent range. On creditkarma.com, which uses the VantageScore, I’m rated at 601, which the site tells me is at the low end of the Poor range. I have no intention of seeking credit anytime in the near future, but I am curious as to which of these ratings I should be inclined to believe. Based on these numbers and the scales used in each method, is my credit pretty damn good, completely pitiful or somewhere in between?
Well, Credit Karma And Credit.com use different credit bureaus for their data so there might be an issue with one of your reports as there is such a big difference. I’d get a copy of all three of your reports and check them for errors. That being said, I usually find VantageScore to be more reliable.
What bureau does credit.com use for their data?
David – I found a very similar range on mine, comparing creditreport.com and credit.com, both of which claim to be based on Experian. How the heck am I supposed to know where I stand when I’m getting different answers even within the same bureau! :/ This is very frustrating and it feels like I’m paying good money for random numbers.
credit.com offers both scores monthly for free (you need to click on see expanded view to see the other score). Since credit.com and Credit Karma may be using different bureaus for your data, try getting both scores for free from credit.com instead. I do believe the author of this article in that you really should also check your real FICO scores from myfico.com from time to time.
CreditKarma only shows your credit report from TransUnion and Equifax, and credit.com shows your experian score, and then you have to go somewhere else for your FICO score.
The credit beaureaus can have wildly differing cores. When my credit was really in the toilet 3 years ago, Experian had 411, while the other two were in the mid 500s.
So different beaureaus can have different scores