Equifax, TransUnion, Credit Karma, Borrowell: Should you trust your credit score? (Marketplace)

useless. They couldn't use them, they couldn't run them. What do you think about that? If you talk to any lender, any bank that is making

credit

decisions, they are absolutely using

credit

score

s. Asha: So what credit

score

are they using? There are a variety of credit scores in Canada. The credit score we provide is a conventional credit score used by many banks. Asha: Conventional how? If they tell us that it is not used, how is it generalized? It is absolutely being used. We are using it for one. I mean, look, the good news is that if you do things like pay

your

bills on time and don't max out

your

credit cards, you'll see improvements in whatever type of credit score you choose.

So, I think that's the power here. Asha: But who really has the power? It looks like the Americans may have the advantage. Remember that secret score from Beacon? It's not a secret in the United States. They call it a fico score there and consumers can get it easily. And remember those offers that come through the free sites? 19.97. 26.99 percent interest. Up to 59,995. Asha: Borrowell and Credit Karma get a cut of any offer a loan company approves, and Vince Gaetano has a lot to say about that. The end result is that he is giving them permission to generate their report.

And that data is very valuable to lending companies, to marketers, and to anyone who needs to sell you financing. You have many loan companies in the market that offer these types of services because they want to market to you at the right time when you are at your most vulnerable. We brought your concerns to Borrowell. It really doesn't reflect how we run our business. We want to connect people with the best financial products when they need them. Many, many, many people who use Borrowell have never taken out a financial product with us and that is totally fine.

Asha: And get this, if you can find the fine print on the Borrowell site, it says that your score may not be the same score used by third parties and is provided to you for educational use. I bet you missed it in the Credit Karma commercials too. The score you see on Credit Karma is provided for educational purposes. And it may be different than the score your lender uses. I think maybe they

should

advertise that a little more, that it's not necessarily the same score that other agencies or people who get their score would see. Asha: And those TransUnion and Equifax scores you pay for?

They are also for educational use. What is a person's real credit score? Who knows that? It's hard to imagine that there is a company that will give you a credit score that may not be accurate and may not be completely necessary.