Your credit score affects many different things that are a part of everyday life such as applying for a credit card, refinancing your house, applying for loans in college, and even your mortgage. Each of the 3 bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and Transunion have their own individual scoring methods. Most mortgage lenders determine your credit risk by using the FICO score, a third party credit scoring system used by lenders to predict the risk they would take by issuing a loan.