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Credit Karma would be a lot more useful if they gave you your actual Fico score. The score they give you, a so-called Fako, is for entertainment purposes only. I've never heard of a lender that actually uses VantageScore and its ilk in lending decisions.

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As I understand, there is no such thing as a singular FICO score.

FWIW Recently went through a refinancing process. Two of the bureaus had slightly different score. However, both were similar to what CK had.

FICO has different models depending on what industry you're in, and then even then, they have different versions of the model. Here's some info if you want to google: FICO Classic 04, FICO Classic 08, FICO Auto 04, etc.

The crazy thing is that the scales are all different, so your Classic 04 Score could be completely different from your Classic 08 Score.

Does FICO even matter anymore? I remember they changed the algorithms over the past few years and I think the banks have their own scores that the public don't see. I really just use my FICO & credit report as a ballpark figure to see how banks look at me, and to check there isn't identity theft or other shenanigans going on.

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