The credit scoring business being lead by one company's product ? Fair Isaac's FICO score, means that most people don't realize that this is not the end all. Use of the FICO score is limited to mortgage lenders to help calculate your mortgage rates. All other applications have a different version of the FICO score which they use and you probably didn't even know about.

These scores, though bound to be similar as all use the same information, are also bound to be different as all use different methods of calculation. Therefore knowing one's FICO score is not enough as they may be in for a rude shock when they apply for the auto loan or new insurance policy. So here we have listed the major different types of credit rating and how they work, so you can use them better.

Firstly you have the Auto-Loan Score. This is basically your normal FICO score with a much stronger emphasis on the auto related part of your score. This means that if you have had auto loans before and paid them on time, you will receive a higher rating that you would have otherwise. Meanwhile, if you had defaulted on any such auto related payments, you will also be more heavily penalized than normally. Apart from this all other information such as your repayment history, length of credit history, amount if credit relative to your limits etc. are all the same as a traditional score.

Then you have the Insurance score. These scores are applied by auto insurance and home owners insurance underwriters to figure out the insurers risk of losing money. While most people would think that their insurance score is based mostly on their past insurance claims this is not the case. Your insurance score is invariably determined by your credit report. The only difference is the different weightings given to the different components.

The actual determination of the scores is sometimes unclear because companies don't always reveal this information. But the important thing to understand is that your insurance premiums aren't exclusively based on your credit score. That is just one of the many factors. Other factors include any motor vehicle violations that you may have had, the type of car you drive etc.