FICO and VantageScore are the two main companies that create credit scores. They differ slightly in terms of things like how much information they need to generate a credit score, how long inquiries affect scores, and how collection accounts are handled. However, both companies’ credit scores fall in the same range (300 to 850), and these scores are used by many of the top lenders and creditors to help determine applicants’ creditworthiness.
VantageScore vs. FICO: Key Differences
| Category | VantageScore | FICO |
| Most Popular Models | VantageScore 3.0 & 4.0 | FICO Score 8 & 9 |
| Scoreable Population | 244 million | 232 million |
| Share of Lenders Using Score | 90% of the top 10 banks | 90% of top lenders |
| Credit Scores Issued in 2024 | 42 billion | 10 billion (purchased only) |
| Recent Credit Experience Needed for Score | 1 month | 6 months |
| Inquiry Grouping Period | 14 days | 30-45 days |
| Late Payment Damage | Missed mortgage payments are more damaging than other types | Late payments are treated equally, regardless of account type |
| Treatment of Collection Accounts | Once paid, collection accounts stop being considered | Collection accounts with original balances under $100 aren’t considered Paid collection accounts stop being considered with FICO Score 9 and later |
| Authorized Users | Moderate credit-building capacity | Limited credit-building capacity |
| Popular Free Providers | 1. WalletHub 2. Chase 3. Credit Karma 4. Credit Sesame |
1. American Express 2. Bank of America 3. Barclays 4. Capital One 5. Citi 6. Discover |
You can see where your credit stands according to the VantageScore 3.0 model by signing up for a free WalletHub account. WalletHub is the best source of free credit scores —of any type—because its scores are updated on a daily basis, and WalletHub provides a credit analysis that explains why your credit score is the way it is and what factors to work on to improve it. You can get free FICO scores from a few select providers, including Discover.
Get Your Latest Credit Score – 100% Free
How VantageScore & FICO Weigh Different Credit Score Components
Both FICO and VantageScore give the most weight to payment history, as it accounts for 35% of a FICO score and up to 41% of a VantageScore. Factors such as credit utilization, length or depth of credit history, and new or recent credit are also incorporated into both models, but how much weight they carry varies.
| Factor | VantageScore | FICO |
| Payment History | 40% - 41% | 35% |
| Amounts Owed / Credit Utilization | 20% | 30% |
| Length / Depth of Credit History | 20% - 21% | 15% |
| Credit Mix | N/A | 10% |
| New / Recent Credit | 5% - 11% | 10% |
| Balances | 6% - 11% | N/A |
| Available Credit | 2% - 3% | N/A |
As you can see in the table above, the two credit scoring companies place emphasis on different factors. For instance, FICO makes credit mix its own factor, while VantageScore includes credit mix in the depth of credit history portion of your credit score. VantageScore separates balances and available credit into their own sections, while FICO combines them and credit utilization under the amounts owed section.
These scoring models differ not only in how they weigh different aspects of your borrowing history, but also in terms of what types of information they include when calculating credit scores, particularly the length of your credit history, number of credit inquiries, and number of collection accounts.
Below, you can learn how FICO and VantageScore handle these key credit score ingredients:
Credit History
When you are establishing credit for the first time, you will likely be able to get a VantageScore credit score before you can get a FICO score. That is because VantageScore can generate a credit score for you after only one month of credit history. FICO needs six months of history to generate a credit score.
Credit Inquiries
A hard credit inquiry will generally knock your credit score down a few points temporarily. However, each credit scoring model sets different rules about how long these credit inquiries affect your score. For instance, FICO doesn’t factor credit inquiries that are more than 12 months old into your score, while VantageScore will consider credit inquiries for two years.
In addition, when you have multiple credit inquiries for a loan or line of credit within a 14-day period, VantageScore will generally count them as a single inquiry, even if they are from different types of credit applications. FICO will count multiple hard inquiries for auto, student, and mortgage loans as a single inquiry if they occur within a 45-day period with newer scoring models and within a 14-day period for older FICO models. FICO also ignores credit inquiries that are less than 30 days old, so your score is not immediately impacted if you are shopping around for the best rates on loans.
Collection Accounts
Collection accounts are typically a bad thing for your credit, but depending on which scoring model is used, you may not have certain types of collection accounts factored into your score.
Accounts Not Considered:
| VantageScore | FICO |
| Paid collection accounts | Paid collection accounts (with versions FICO Score 9 & 10) |
| All paid or unpaid medical debt | Paid or unpaid medical debt under $500 |
| Info | Collection account under $100 |
Learn more about what affects your credit score.
What Credit Score Is Better: FICO or VantageScore?
Neither FICO nor VantageScore is inherently better than the other. If you are trying to determine which is more likely to resemble the score that your lender is seeing, neither will exactly match what any lender uses to evaluate your trustworthiness as a borrower or what some might call your “real” credit score. That’s because we have more than 1,000 scores overall, and all major lenders use proprietary in-house credit scores, which might be based on over-the-counter scoring models but are modified in such a way as to provide drastically different results than anything we can get our hands on.
That, in turn, makes the brand and model of the credit score that you reference almost immaterial. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a FICO or VantageScore credit score or whether it’s based on your TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian credit report. What matters is that you actually check your score. You should also get your score for free from a reputable source like WalletHub and reference the same type of score over time for the sake of accurate comparison.
Ask The Experts: VantageScore 3.0 vs. FICO Score 8/9
Credit scoring is a nuanced, often opaque business. In the interest of pulling back the curtain a bit, we asked credit-industry executives for their take on VantageScore 3.0, including how it compared to the newest FICO model. You can find their bios and responses to the following questions below.
- Which is better and why: VantageScore 3.0 or FICO Score 9?
- Which aspects of VantageScore 3.0 do you like most, relative to previous versions?
- What will FICO’s share of the credit-scoring market be five years from now?
Ask the Experts
Professor of Taxation and Business Law at SUNY Polytechnic Institute
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Assistant Professor of Accounting in the Naveen Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas
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Associate Professor of Consumer Science and Faculty Director of Consumer Finance & Financial Planning in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Director of the Department of Accounting and Assistant Professor of Accounting in the Madden School of Business at Le Moyne College
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Associate Professor in the Department of Business Administration at St. Louis Community College
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Extension Professional, Family Financial Education Specialist, Camden County Extension Center, University of Missouri
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WalletHub experts are widely quoted. Contact our media team to schedule an interview.