> Minute differences in the score (573 vs 605) don't really impact you
Don't they, though? How do you know? For a person who gets refused access to some important service or product because they're just 1 point under some arbitrary and unknown threshold, yes there's an impact.
No, they don’t make a difference.
Generally credit scores falls in wide bands that give a general credit risk.
573 vs 605 are both very high risk and you’re getting slammed regardless.
The scores are no more arbitrary than the requirement that bankruptcies roll off your score after 7 years.
The more likely scenario where someone is going to troubleshoot is "I paid off all my debts and have a lot of unused credit, how come my score is too low for mortgage lenders to talk to me" - and likely a gross mismatch like that is going to be obvious.
They give you a pretty meaningful guide on what to look for in determining your score [0] that should be enough.
Note, I am not arguing that I think it's good the exact formula is not known, I just think it's not a real problem for either the lenders (who are the ones who actually base their business on this data) or the consumer.
[0] https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/whats-in-your-credit...