OK Here is a scenario for those like me who are ignorant of how our credit system works. Went to by an RV yesterday. Had about 20% down. Finance manager tells me that with that much down and a score over 700 I am an instant approval. I asked him who he would pull. His reply was whoever I thought was the best score. That's Experian in my case. I am over 700. We go into his cubicle and he enters my info. I stopped him because he was using some kind of Equifax interface. I asked him why he was using this Equifax interface to pull Experian. He looked at me dismissively and said hang on let me show you. "I know what I'm doing". OK I said. He pulls down a drop down menu and selects "Experian" and proceeds to pull. Sure enough we get my experian report right in front of our eyes. WITH A SCORE OF 673!!! ( I had my 3 reports with me) In short what happened was that while we were looking at Experian information, my score was calculated using Fair Isaac scoring model which I believe is also known as FICO, not the PLUS Score provided by Experian when you pull directly from them. I'll tell you this, I would have called this guy a liar if he would have told me that my score was 673 over the phone. Hope this is useful to someone.
The scores you get online are not true FICO scores. Many here call them FAKO. Also, there are many different scoring models provided by FICO. The algorithm used for auto financing is different from the one used for mortgages. I have always believed that the auto scores were kept low so people couldn't qualify for the best financing, but that's just my opinion, and I have no proof. Do you belong to a credit union? If so, you might try financing through them. Even if their rates are a little higher, they are often a better deal because interest is computed on the unpaid balance each month. Many finance companies use what is called the "Rule of 78" to compute interest. This front-loads the interest. Then if you make payments early or make extra payments, it doesn't really reduce your overall interest like it would with simple interest.
This I did not know. I will not tell anyone from now on what I think my score is. This can really get confusing. Thanks for your help!
