 TITLE: What Is a Bank Credit Score? CONTENT: Should I Check My Score Elsewhere Before Taking Out a Loan?\n-----------------------------------------------------------\nThe credit score your bank provides will help you track your personal credit well-being. When it rises, you'll know you're going in the right direction, even if it's not a score that you're familiar with or that a lender typically uses.\nStill, since lenders use credit scores to determine qualification and to set terms such as interest rates, it's a good idea to check your credit scores with the most common scoring models to take some of the guesswork out of your planning:\n*   **Home loan**: Mortgage lenders often use a FICO® model specifically for mortgages or VantageScore 4.0.\n*   **Car loan:** Before you buy a car, check the credit scores that finance companies tend to rely on for auto loans: FICO® Score 8, FICO® Score 9, FICO® Auto Scores, and VantageScores 3.0 and 4.0. END