Posted by David Butler on January 06, 2001 at 14:39:04:
Hello Keith,
The credit score model is owned by Fair, Isaac Company, who in turn licenses it to the Big Three Credit Repositories (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion).
Because of the contracts between Fair, Isaac and their lender clients, the scores are not available to consumers by right. This is beginning to change, as the public pressure over the past two years has led to various states attorney generals to pursue the issue. California has already passed a law, SB1607, that will require that a borrower’s score to be revealed to the borrower for mortgage loan applications, and spelling out four reasons why the scores were not better (where applicable). The law takes effect later this summer.
In the meantime, people who are able to obtain their scores generally have to rely on a friend or cooperative employee at a bank, lending institution, car dealer, etc. to be able to get their score. It is even better when you can get a copy of your complete scored report - because usually they look quite a bit different than the standard “Consumer Credit Report”.
In the past year, I have run across several websites that do make scored reports available. Type “credit reports” in your search engine, and sort through the various offerings to find one that offers a “scored report”. Usually they will provide the option of looking at a sample report, so you can get an idea of what you will receive. The charges for a single repository report run anywhere from $7 to $18 or so.
You might also want to have a look at our FREE report, THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING YOUR CREDIT RATING AND CREDIT REPORT, at: notenetwork.com - This website is for sale! - notenetwork Resources and Information.
Hope this helps, and Happy Hunting!
David P. Butler