FICO 8, NextGen, Vantage Score, Experian – how do the various scores from different credit agencies add up? How do we keep them all straight? And which are most important?

The most familiar credit agencies are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. First on the consumer financial scene, these credit bureaus today still provide us with credit reports or credit histories. For the most part, the same exact financial information shows up on these documents, but there can be variations. By law, you are entitled to one free report from all agencies once a year.

But credit scores are different than reports. Equifax sells consumers its Score Power and there’s TransUnion’s TrueCredit. These are just doctored up by-products that selling score from the same place, or from Fair Isaac Corporation or FICO. This domination is why Experian no longer sells the consumer a score.

FICO got to be the big credit cheese by developing a strong reputation through a financial algorithm that measures your payment and account history, credit length and types of credit you use to compute a score range between 300 and 850. There are many myths about FICO scores.

This made other credit agencies start turning ideas or numbers in their heads. In 2006, FICO filed a lawsuit against the mentioned three credit bureaus for violating antitrust laws when they worked together to develop and market the new VantageScore – their own version or algorithm of how to properly evaluate one’s credit worthiness with scores ranging from 501-990.

The idea spawned a credit monster: Experian’s Scorex PLUS, NextGen and an improved FICO 8 now compete to offer you — and sometimes just the lenders – better credit analyzing beyond just numbers.

Next time you apply for a car loan, it’s anyone’s game what credit system will be pulled to determine your credit. As a consumer, one thing you can do is make sure all three credit reports read relatively the same. Despite all the credit score developments, the advice stays the same: A good credit score is determined by your everyday financial good habits.