what is the difference between a credit score and a FICO credit score?

Public Comments

1. FICO refers to the Fair Issac Company which created the standards for evaluating credit scores. The terms are usually interchangale. There are three main reporting bureaus that evaluate credit, most mortgage companies will evaluate and qualify a potential client based on the middle score of the three.
2. FICO Scores are the actual scores that credit lenders use when evaluating your creditworthiness (the FICO company actually created the original credit scoring system). A regular credit score is the credit bureau's "version" of the FICO score (its like a knockoff score). Whenever you need to find out your AUTHENTIC scores you can get it from www.myfico.com. Everyone with credit has 3 FICO scores (from Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union credit bureaus).
3. FICO is the Fair Issac scoring system, the other two are BEACON and Empirca, not three FICOs.