A credit score is a proprietary equation based on credit bureau data. FICO has an equation at each bureau and the FICO score is calculated in real time based on a lender request. TU, EXP, and EQX also have their own equations which can provide a different score based on data differences between the bureaus or differences in the equations. The differences might weight a late housing payment differently than a late credit card payment, or might have a different utilization calculation. As other have said, focus on trends and ensuring that your credit report, eg the trades on it are correct .. open date, credit limit, high credit etc. Yes, FICO is used by many lenders, but it is not the only score used to determine credit worthiness. Many companies pull a FICO score, but use their own proprietary score to approve or decline an application. Its actually good to have competition in the scoring industry, and not have a single FICO score, which has a proprietary forumula for which we know general details but not specifics, as the only creditworthiness measure.