MaxDecisions: FICO 9 vs. Vantage 4 -- The Final Verdict

There has been a 17-year debate between the predictive power of FICO score versus Vantage score since Vantage launched in 2006. FICO, established in 1956, remains the dominant U.S. scoring system, while Vantage was built collaboratively by the three major credit bureaus on a standardized tri-bureau dataset.

MaxDecisions analyzed more than 20 million U.S. consumers from early 2021, comparing appended FICO 9 and Vantage 4 scores. Statistical testing found strong alignment, with a Pearson correlation of 0.876 and Spearman correlation of 0.8551.

Meaningful differences emerge in the subprime range, however: Vantage consistently scores higher than FICO below the 600 range, with divergences reaching 25-40 points in deep subprime. MaxDecisions recommends running an alternate score in parallel for a few vintages before switching cutoffs outright.