Given that we’ll be losing access to our Experian FICO scores tomorrow, I thought it would be interesting to look at a story that Liz Pulliam Weston wrote more than two years ago. Liz thinks it is silly that consumers — who have access to free credit reports — don’t have access to free FICO scores. From the story:The fact we don’t already have the right to see our scores for free comes as a surprise to many people. Three out of four consumers surveyed last year on behalf of the Consumer Federation of America and Providian Financial mistakenly believed that they could access their scores without cost.In fact, credit bureaus and score providers charge $6 and up to view these numbers, or require consumers to sign up for often-expensive — and unnecessary — credit-monitoring services to get “free” scores.What’s more, the credit scores being touted often aren’t the same as the FICO scores used by most lenders. Mortgage brokers and lending officers complain that the “consumer education” scores often sold by two of the bureaus, Experian and TransUnion, can be 30 to 100 points higher than the consumers’ actual FICO scores. I don’t think it will be too much longer before we do have access to free FICO scores, by the way. Fair Isaac has a Web site called FreeFICOScore.com. I’ve heard, though cannot confirm (I’ve tried), that consumers will eventually be able to get their FICO score — through FreeFICOScore.com (or a site similar to it) — once a year. The details are still being worked out. In the meantime, take a trip back through memory lane and give Liz’s story a read (link).Interested in receiving an email alert whenever I post a new blog entry?
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