There are many types of credit scores. They are developed by independent companies, credit reporting agencies, and even some lenders. As a rule the higher the score the better.

• Each credit reporting agency calculates your score independently and each score may be different because the credit history each agency has for you may be different. Lenders may make a credit card or auto loan decision based on a single agency’s score. Although others such as mortgage lenders will look at all three scores.
• Your credit score changes when your information changes at that credit reporting agency. This is good news! It means that over time you can improve a poor score by improving how you handle credit.
• Many insurance companies use something similar when setting your insurance rate, called a credit-based insurance score. You may be able to improve your insurance score by improving how you handle credit which in turn may lower your premium payments on auto or homeowners insurance.
• Some credit scores offered to consumers are just estimates and are different from the credit risk scores lenders use. Consumer reporting agencies and other companies sometimes use an estimated score to illustrate a consumer’s general level of credit risk. How can you tell whether a score is estimated? Ask the company if the score is used by most lenders. If it is not, it is likely to be an estimated score.