 TITLE: Why Do I Have So Many Credit Scores With One Credit Bureau? CONTENT: How Do I Know Which Is My Real Score?\n-------------------------------------\nSimilarly to how you don't have just one score, you also don't have a \"real\" score. Suggesting there is a real score implies you have scores that aren't real or are, otherwise, fake. As long as a credit score is commercially available and used by lenders, it's certainly a real score, as it can influence lender decisions.\nHaving said that, lenders can pick and choose which scores or credit reporting agencies they'll use for their underwriting processes. The one notable exception is the mortgage industry, where the Federal Housing Finance Agency mandates the use of all three of your credit reports and three FICO® Scores.\nIt's unlikely you would know which credit report or which credit score model your prospective lenders will use to assess your creditworthiness. But whatever score they end up using for their decision-making process is certainly the most important score for them at the time of your application.\nThe good news is because credit scoring models see the same credit report information and have similar scoring categories, your scores should be directionally similar. What that means is if the information in your credit reports is positive, you'll likely have good credit scores. If your reports contain negative information such as late payments, default or bankruptcy, you may have poor credit scores regardless of the scoring model used.\nThis is why it's so important to build and maintain great credit reports with all three of credit bureaus. If you're able to do so, then you don't really need to worry about whether or not your lender uses a FICO® Score or a VantageScore credit score, or which report they'll use to calculate your score. They'll all be great scores that say the same thing about you, which is that you present little credit risk. END