Since it was introduced to U.S. lenders in 1989, the FICO Score is what most lenders use to decide whether to approve a loan or credit card. However, 17 years later, VantageScore was created, and it has become increasingly popular among lenders. While both scores are between 300 and 850, they have several key differences.
FICO uses five factors to generate someone’s score, with some factors carrying more weight: payment history on debts (35%), amount of debt owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), recent credit accounts opened (10%), and the different types of open credit accounts (10%).
VantageScore uses six factors: payment history (41%), depth of credit (credit mix + length of credit) (20%), credit utilization (20%), recent credit (11%), account balances (6%), and available credit (2%).
When applying for a new line of credit, hard inquiries by the lender can knock points off a credit score. But when there are multiple applications, FICO will count all hard inquiries within a 45-day window as just one. In contrast, VantageScore’s window is just 14 days.
Capital One’s CreditWise online tool offers a free FICO score report, even to people who don’t have Capital One accounts. A free VantageScore is available through Chase’s Credit Journey tool.