Credit Rating Scale

Fico credit score is the most commonly used credit score. With more than 90% of all lenders and creditors using it to make their lending decisions it practically dominates the market. Fico credit score has many variations, all of which run on the same scale, from 300 to 850.

Vantage credit score is a new credit rating, introduced on 2006 by the 3 major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax & Experian) as a competition to Fico. It is supposed to benefit with consumers that have “thin” credit files by better predicting the risks involved in lending them money. However, Vantage score hasn’t caught up with creditors yet, and most still favor Fico.

Here is a graphic illustration of Fico & Vantage Credit Score Scale:

As can be seen, if your score is 690 it actually means nothing unless you know what credit score scale is being used. If it’s a 690 Fico score then your credit is good and you can expect to get very good terms. However, if your 690 credit score is a Vantage score – your credit is actually very bad.

Other Credit Scores
Each of the 3 major credit bureaus has its own version of Fico score (e.g. TransRisk, Score Power, Beacon and many more).

Almost all of them run on the same scale used by Fico (300-850), but some have a slightly different scale. For more information about these credit scores’ scale and the differences between them see Credit Score Range.