topic Re: TU04 vs. TU98? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

TU04 vs. TU98?

Cyan007 — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:47:19 GMT

Correct me if I'm wrong but currently TU04 is the latest version of the TU score? I just wanted to collect and also give some data surrounding this subject. For instance, my TU score through MyFico is 727 and after a recent LO pull, my TU score (most likely using the newer version) was 702. Do we know what was changed to make the scoring more strict for the newer version? I was also shocked to see my EX score of 747 on the pull. It's a shame I can't pull my report from them to see what's different. :(

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

Jazzzy — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:45:39 GMT

I can't help in the discussion of what is different. I do know that most mortgage borrowers report that their TU04 is lower than their TU98. I certainly wish it was available to us....without having to apply for a mortgage, that is.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

ByrdMan — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:49:12 GMT

On two different occasions, I had my TU04 and TU98 pulled on the same day. On both occasions, the TU04 was 30 points HIGHER. Whatever the changes are, TU04 must like what's in my report better than TU98 does.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

Jazzzy — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:51:32 GMT

ByrdMan wrote:
On two different occasions, I had my TU04 and TU98 pulled on the same day. On both occasions, the TU04 was 30 points HIGHER. Whatever the changes are, TU04 must like what's in my report better than TU98 does.

Good to know. I will likely go into the mortgage process later this year. Maybe I'll be one of the lucky ones and TU04 will be higher. *fingers crossed*

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

morganirish — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:32:04 GMT

Will MyFico offer TU 04 in the near future?

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:11:32 GMT

morganirish wrote:
Will MyFico offer TU 04 in the near future?

A good question to ask of TransUnion! They're still selling TU98 on their transunioncs site.

I can't fathom why they want to keep selling a mostly-out-of-date score. >:(

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

marty56 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:19:32 GMT

IMHO the use of TU98 might be a passive agressive action on TU's part to get lenders to use their Vantage system.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

ByrdMan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:00:29 GMT

That would really be nice.

morganirish wrote:
Will MyFico offer TU 04 in the near future?

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

steppingup — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:27:08 GMT

I just had my TU pulled from LO today and it was 746. I pulled FICO from this site on 1/25 and it was 708 and FAKO from Creditkarma was 707. There isn't anything radically different today vs Jan 25th. I recall reading an article that one of the changes to the latest FICO model is that it didn't count inquiries as hard as before and that is one of my top three things hurting my TU98 score.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

Kimberly68 — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:08:21 GMT

The LO pulled my scores and TU had me at 634; myfico has 610 and TU (truecredit) has 671.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:52:09 GMT

Kimberly68 wrote:
The LO pulled my scores and TU had me at 634; myfico has 610 and TU (truecredit) has 671.

Then it appears that your LO pulled a FICO 04. The myFICO score is TU98.

The TrueCredit score is not a FICO and has no relationship to FICOs. It's on a different number range, and it's the result of a different formula. It's like comparing apples to oranges.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

AndySoCal — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:56:55 GMT

One of the differences bet TU 98 and FICO 04 is the "shopping period" for mortgages and auto loans. FICO 04 is 45 days and TU98 is 14 or 30 days. You will see most if not all lenders use FICO04 for mortgage loans now.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

kito0806 — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 04:38:18 GMT

I pulled my TU score from myFico on 3/5, and it was 664. I immediately called my mortgage broker (I mean within less than 5 minutes) and asked her to pull my TU score, and she pulled a 600 (they use TU04, like almost everyone does now)! I am just 1 piece of paper away from closing on a house (09 tax transcript) and the credit report she pulled is almost ready to expire. Since my TU score was up according to myFico, I wanted her to pull the report again to start the 90 day clock anew before the things they made me pay off to get the mortgage posted and dropped my score. Lot of good that did me, huh? Now I'm worried that the UW will pull my scores right before close, and I'll be screwed. I saw a much earlier post on this board that asked whether or not the TU98 score should now be considered a FAKO score. I, for one, think it should be. Just my two cents.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

smallfry — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 12:46:27 GMT

I don't think inquiries can make that much of a difference so far as the score between 98 and 04 goes. There has to be a common thread between the lower and higher scores. AAofA, utilization, accounts with balances,new credit or whatever. Number of inqs wouldn't tank a score that much.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

tbone74 — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:05:35 GMT

kito0806 wrote:
I pulled my TU score from myFico on 3/5, and it was 664. I immediately called my mortgage broker (I mean within less than 5 minutes) and asked her to pull my TU score, and she pulled a 600 (they use TU04, like almost everyone does now)!

Uh oh....now that totally got my anxiety going! I'm going to see my LO this Friday for our VA Loan. Initially, the first set of scores she pulled were on 02/04/2010: TU (via TU04) 608/ TU98 Score 638 / EQ: 613 / Exp: 663.

Since then, I've had several baddies removed. The change: TU98 670 / EQ: 616 / Exp: ?

After seeing my TU98 score go up 32 points.....I WAS pretty confident that my TU04 would be above 620. But, after reading the above post indicating a 64 point difference....I'm not so confident.

Darn credit scoring systems......aghh!

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

fused — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:36:44 GMT

Its "believed" that TU 04 punishes high (not sure how high:)) revolving util more than TU 98 does.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

kito0806 — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:33:28 GMT

I suppose that's possible, but that certainly isn't the reason for the huge discrepancy in my case. I have 2 cc with $500 limits on each. Both carry balances of about $20. Those are the only cards I have.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

smallfry — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:48:14 GMT

kito0806 wrote:
I suppose that's possible, but that certainly isn't the reason for the huge discrepancy in my case. I have 2 cc with $500 limits on each. Both carry balances of about $20. Those are the only cards I have.

You might see a big ding for 2 out of 2 cards reporting balances even though the balances are small.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

kito0806 — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:58:35 GMT

I have paid them off in full every month since I had them, and in December, my mortgage officer recommended that I keep a small balance on both of them in order to increase my score. It worked.

Re: TU04 vs. TU98?

kito0806 — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:30:03 GMT

I just wanted to clarify a little further. It seems that under utlization of credit can hurt you just like over utilization can. From everything I have read on this board and learned over the years, it's best to keep revolving credit balances at 7-10% of the available balance, if not a little less. Mine is at 4%. The whole point of this thread, though, is that myFico is not selling "true" TU scores. They are selling what amounts to an outdated, useless score that lenders no longer use. So I, for one, now consider the TU score a FAKO score and will not buy another TU score from myFico until they provide a true, current, and useful score. A 64-point difference between what I pull here and what a lender pulls less than 5 minutes later is simply ridiculous.