Consumers Find Not All Credit Scores Created Equal

Not all credit scores are created equal. That's what a consumer found out when she started asking questions about why her credit card interest was more than doubled.

Maria Polk carries debt on her credit card but makes regular payments. So she was surprised to find her Bank of America credit card jumped from 12% to 30% in one billing cycle.

"I had no idea what happened. I was never late on any payments. I thought I had excellent credit," Polk said.

She pulled up her VantageScore credit score from Experian to see what was wrong.

"My credit score was 853 and I thought, 'Wow, that's pretty good,'" Polk said. "So why am I getting 30% interest rate on my credit card?"

It didn't make sense, so she applied for another credit card at a different bank – Wachovia – hoping she'd get a better deal so she could transfer her balance.

"So I got my credit card from the bank and it was a credit limit of $3,500 and I thought, 'Well, there's not much I can do with that,'" Polk said.

Wachovia told her they based that low limit on a different credit score; a much lower 664, which was her FICO score.

"Why can't they get the score together? Why can't we really understand the score? Why isn't there a formula that the average person can understand?" Polk said.

Rick Harper with the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of San Francisco explained there are different credit scoring models.

"For instance, different creditors, automobile dealers, dealerships, might have their own credit score. The bureaus themselves, the three, have proprietary scores, and there may be more," Harper said.

He says different services also have their own scoring scales and criteria.

-FICO scores range between 300 and 850 points; Experian's VantageScore goes from 501 to 990.

-The length of your credit history makes up 15% of your FICO score and 23% of your VantageScore.

-And your amount of debt makes up 30% of your FICO score and 15% of your VantageScore.

Harper said what is dragging down scores during the recession is consumers carrying higher card balances, opening more lines of credit and transferring balances. He also explained credit scores are only a snapshot in time and they can change in a matter of hours as accounts get updated.

Harper's advice as the best way to monitor credit is to pull up a free annual credit report and make sure everything on it is correct.

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