What is a Vantage score? And how is it different from a FICO score?

Vantage Score was developed by the 3 major credit bureaus to compete with the commonly used FICO score. This score model was developed in March of 2006. This new Vantage score is used by major banks, and creditors to help evaluate your creditworthiness. Similar to FICO, VANTAGE score uses predictability technology based on the information contained in your credit report. Where FICO uses five factors VANTAGE 3.0 only uses four factors, however there are different versions of Vantage that use more or less then the VANTAGE 3.0:

VantageScore 3.0

1. Payment history is “extremely influential.”

2. Credit utilization (the percentage of credit limits in use) is “highly influential,” as is age and type of credit accounts.

3. Total balances and debt are “moderately influential.”

4. Recent credit behavior and amount of debt are “less influential.”

The information contained in your credit report using these four factors are ran through an algorithm that will calculate a 3 digit score, the higher the number the better. This score ranges from 300 to 850.

VantageScore4.0

1. Payment history

2. Depth of credit

3. Credit utilization

4. Recent credit

5. Balances

6. Available credit

The change and difference between the two scoring models was to ensure that payment history weighed more and new credit a little more, with balance and depth of credit a little less. The reason for these changes was so that people with little or no credit history can have a chance at better scoring so that they may access the economy lending industry. The whole purpose and mission of this competing scoring model between VANTAGE and FICO is so that consumers and lenders have a more inclusive credit scoring model with accuracy backed by data analytics.

Your VantageScore ranges from good to bad are:

1. Very poor: 300 to 499

2. Poor: 500 to 600

3. Fair: 601 to 660

4. Good: 661 to 780

Excellent: 781 to 850