 TITLE: Why Do I Have So Many Credit Scores? CONTENT: How Do You Make Sense of Different Credit Scores?\n-------------------------------------------------\nIf there isn't one credit score to rule them all, what's the point of even looking them up? And if some banks and lenders develop their own custom scoring models, isn't seeking your credit scores a futile exercise?\nNot exactly.\n\"Checking one score and getting too attached to that number is not practical,\" says Herrera. But looking at a few multiple scores is a smart exercise to help you understand how your credit is doing.\n\"Most credit scoring models do the same thing—assess risk. Each model approaches it in a slightly different way. But the variables that go into predicting default behaviors are all similar: Have you been late on your bills before? Are you late frequently? Is your credit utilization high?\" Herrera explains. \"Most credit models do a decent job of predicting risk. So when you get a score that tells you you're high risk or low risk, generally other scores will do the same.\"\nThat was evident by all the credit scores I pulled. Notably, with one exception, none of the scores generated by either the credit card issuers, the free services or Experian IdentityWorks yielded exactly the same number. But all the scores came with some context about what the numbers meant, including a scale that consisted of four to six bands divided up into categories that were all some variation of the following: exceptional, very good, good, fair, poor.\nMy scores consistently fell into the second-highest category of credit, though many services had different names for the same bands.\"That's key,\" says Barry Paperno, a consumer credit expert who has worked for both FICO and Experian.\nBecause we all have so many credit scores in our name, there is no point in chasing every single one down—because you likely don't even have access to most of them. Instead, it's smarter to look at a few and compare the results.\n\"Do your scores vacillate wildly?\" asks Paperno. If they do, that could be a red flag that something is off on one of your credit reports. But if your scores generally fall in the same range, then you should have a good sense of how you're doing.\nAnd when you are looking at your scores and how they've changed, check whether they go up or down in a similar direction.\n\"What makes one score go up vs. down is always going to be the same—it just depends on the degree,\" says Paperno.\nMost services that provide you with your score offer context on what the number means and why it falls in the range it does, Paperno notes. Pay attention to the factors that are dragging your score down. They should be relatively similar across all the numbers you pull. If they're not, that could be an indication that there's something awry on one of your credit reports, which you should follow up on. END