Buyer Beware: Will The Real Credit Scores Please Stand Up, Part 2

In last week's post I wrote about how some companies market and sell credit scores that are not used by lenders and don't even closely resemble the scores that lenders and insurance companies do use.  If you'd like to review that post please click here.

I'm calling anything other than a FICO score a fake score or useless score.  Since each of the companies that sells fake scores have chosen to scale their scores so closely to FICO's range of 300 to 850 this post is even more important. Unless you know what to look for you might not know that what you're buying is a waste of your money.

It occurred to me, and some of my readers, that I didn't really identify any of the companies that sell useless scores versus those that sell the real deal. So, over the next two weeks I'm going to list as many of the companies that I know of that sell or give away scores and include a little bit of detail about each of them.  There are so many that it will take two more blogs. 

My hope is that you can use this information to become a more informed buyer of credit scores.  I assume that if you're reading a credit related blog that you have some level of interest in this. 

When I say that I'll give you a 'little bit of detail' I'm not kidding. If I really went into depth then this week's post would be even longer than last week's because there are 16 of them on my list so far.  Bet you didn't know that selling scores had become such a growth industry. 

Before I get started I'll share my normal disclaimer which is that I am not on the payroll of any of these companies although I did previously work for two of them, I'll let you know which ones when I get to them. I also have no ax to grind with any of these companies and the opinions expressed here are my own.  If I rip on them then they certainly earned it.

Now that's a disclaimer - in your face before you even get to the juicy parts.  As you know this is a complaint I have with all of the following companies. 

So, in no particular order:

FreeCreditReport.com - An Experian company.  Gives away credit reports and fake scores to entice you into signing up for a trial offer of their credit monitoring service.  If you forget to cancel your service in the first 30 days then you will be billed.  In my opinion, the scummiest of the scummy.  Fake scores.

Consumerinfo.com - An Experian company.  Same song, second verse.  Does the exact same thing as FreeCreditReport.com.  Fake scores.

CreditExpert.com - An Experian company.  Same song, third verse.  Fake scores. 

Experian.com - Same song, fourth verse.  Does the exact same thing as FreeCreditReport.com, ConsumerInfo.com and CreditExpert.com.  Avoid all of these four sites like the plague because all of the scores these Experian companies give away or sell are as fake as Pamela Anderson's...well, you get the point.

CreditXpert.com - Not to be confused with CreditExpert (with an 'E'). These guys build services around fake scores such as simulators.  They sell them to mortgage lenders as a tool that they can use to increase scores and close more loans.  The problem here is that lenders should want consumers to improve their scores naturally through improved credit management, not because of advice given to them by a company that doesn't lose a dime if the consumer's house has to be foreclosed.

TransUnion.com -Gives away scores to entice you to sign up for services but discloses the true price of the services clearly on their site, unlike any of the Experian sites where you find out about the price when you get your credit card statement.  Still though...fake scores. 

TrueCredit.com - A TransUnion company.   Sells products to consumers including fake scores.  Good luck finding the "fake score" disclaimer on any of these sites.

TrueLink.com - Redirects you to a second TrueCredit.com site.  Fake scores.

TransUnioncs.com - This is easily the least well known of the TransUnion websites.  And why wouldn't it be?  Who would ever think to include the 'cs' in the URL.  It stands for 'Consumer Services' if you're interested. This site does sell a legitimate FICO score based on the consumer's TransUnion credit report.  This score is commonly known as EMPIRICA or FICO Risk Score Classic in the lending environment.  TransUnion has to pay FICO a royalty for each of the FICO scores they sell which is why this site gets so little attention.  But, consumers should use this one over all of the other sites listed above.

Next week I'll finish up with the last bureau and some non-bureaus that are selling fake scores.  It gets better...and worse.

Comments

[Vincent871]

http://www.forumov.net/hlink87/0 cool
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[AMY HUGGINS]

I agree with you 100 percent these are a totle rip off now where near your credit score

[robbin4876]

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[robbin4876]

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[robbin0]

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[robbin0]

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[Smit]

Thank you very much.i

[Britney]

excellent texture.n

[Charles]

Don▓t walk behind me, I may not lead. Don▓t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

[Paulina]

Thanks for your project. I like this site. KEEP IT UP...

[DB]

Beware Freecreditreport.com

It's a scam and they will not make it easy for you to cancel your membership. Moreover, when you try to log in and cancel online, the website will crash or perform very weird things. You will get charged every month and you'll spend days trying to cancel and speak with your bank or credit card company. These charges will show up every month under: CIC*Triple Advantage 877-4816825 CA

I am so frustrated that my mission right now is to prevent others from falling into this trap and hope that someone will file a class action suit against freecreditreport.com and Experian.

Don't fall for these corporate scams particularly from Freecreditreport.com and other corporations offering free credit report. Use the government or non for profit sites.

[Deb]

Buyer beware of TransUnioncs.com

The websites only works in IE and it is not easy to cancel your account with them. When you do want to cancel you find there is only obscurely buried information and a phone number - you are calling somewhere FAR FAR away and have to give this person in another country your ssn, your address - your mothers maiden name.... all ripe grounds for identity theft and fraud!