topic Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

Cull — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:38:10 GMT

Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores? It reports the same stuff as the other 2. It is really affecting me getting an auto loan. I have 596 Exp and 670 with the other 2.

Thanks in advance,

L C

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

llecs — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:52:23 GMT

Was the Experian score pulled by a lender? And if so, what kind of lender?

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

Student_Loans_Kill — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:36:12 GMT

Cull wrote:

Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores? It reports the same stuff as the other 2. It is really affecting me getting an auto loan. I have 596 Exp and 670 with the other 2.
Thanks in advance,
L C

BMW pulled a 540 experian for me while USAA and capital one pulled a 656 EQ and my TU98 is 664. All have the same info based on my trimerge USAA pull. I also got a FAKO from experian for a 601 score

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

DanandSass — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:52:03 GMT

I'm in the same boat.......590 on Experian, 651 on Transunion, exact same information for both. Would love to know the answer!

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

MarineVietVet — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:58:15 GMT

DanandSass wrote:
I'm in the same boat.......590 on Experian, 651 on Transunion, exact same information for both. Would love to know the answer!

Hello and welcome.

One thing I will ask is where did you get your scores? No one has been able to buy their own Experian FICO score since February of 2009. Creditors can pull Experian and also there is a CU (PSECU) in Pennsylvania that supplies that information to it's members only. You can only buy true FICO scores at a few places. One place is here at myFICO.

At one time you could also purchase your Transunion score at transunioncs.com but no more. Wal Mart now offers a TU08 score to those who have their store card and the Discover version.

Equifax will still sell you a FICO score found here: www.equifax.com/web-myfico-products/

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

DanandSass — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 06:12:55 GMT

MarineVietVet wrote:
DanandSass wrote:
I'm in the same boat.......590 on Experian, 651 on Transunion, exact same information for both. Would love to know the answer!

Hello and welcome.

One thing I will ask is where did you get your scores? No one has been able to buy their own Experian FICO score since February of 2009. Creditors can pull Experian and also there is a CU (PSECU) in Pennsylvania that supplies that information to it's members only. You can only buy true FICO scores at a few places. One place is here at myFICO.

At one time you could also purchase your Transunion score at transunioncs.com but no more. Wal Mart now offers a TU08 score to those who have their store card and the Discover version.

Equifax will still sell you a FICO score found here: www.equifax.com/web-myfico-products/

Hi MarineVietVet,

I purchased all 3 credit reports + scores from the Equifax website, and that is the score I was given from Experian. I found it here -

http://www.equifax.com/complete_report/

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

MarineVietVet — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 06:31:12 GMT

DanandSass wrote:

Hi MarineVietVet,

I purchased all 3 credit reports + scores from the Equifax website, and that is the score I was given from Experian. I found it here -
http://www.equifax.com/complete_report/

Unfortunately none of those scores are FICO scores. The Equifax website does sell FICO's but the product you bought uses Equifax's own proprietary "Equifax Credit Score" and this score is not used by any lenders.

As I wrote before Experian has not sold their FICO score in over 3 years to consumers. What they sell now is called a "PLUS" score and these PLUS scores are not used by any lenders either.

Your true FICO scores could be higher or lower than these non-FICO (FAKO) scores.

(With all due credit to long time member llecs for this):

"Virtually everyone sells scores, but they are not all FICO scores. If you got scores from the big 3, then very likely 2 or all 3 of them are not FICO scores. Experian and TransUnion do not sell FICO scores on their website. We call these non-FICO scores, FAKOs, and can easily be as much as a few points to 100+ points off your real FICO when pulled the same day. If it didn't say "FICO" next to the score, then it isn't.

Other companies (e.g. freecreditreport.com, freescore.com, truecredit, creditkarma, Equifax Credit Complete, Quizzle, and dozens of others out there) sell scores, but they are nothing more than gimmicks and lenders don't use them. They do this because they want to avoid paying any fees to FICO and when they say "credit score" people buy it anyway on the assumption that it is a FICO. The scores are off because the formula is different, factors in different things as compared to FICO, and score ranges are different than FICO's (e.g. FICO is 300-850, Vantage is 501-990, PLUS is 330-830, TransRisk is 350-850, and so on)."

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

DanandSass — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:19:06 GMT

Ahhh, I see....so basically what you're saying is I got duped for an extra $10 when I bought my credit reports :smileyfrustrated: Well that explains Experian anyway....but my Equifax & Transunion FICO scores on this website are still off by 61 points, so I'm still confused!

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

llecs — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:16:55 GMT

DanandSass wrote:
Ahhh, I see....so basically what you're saying is I got duped for an extra $10 when I bought my credit reports :smileyfrustrated: Well that explains Experian anyway....but my Equifax & Transunion FICO scores on this website are still off by 61 points, so I'm still confused!

If you bought TU and EQ from here, and compared exactly identical reports, you'd still find a small difference becuase the formula differs. In an ideal world, your reports should match, but I bet they don't. I'd review TU and EQ side-by-side. Look for major differences like accounts on one but not the other, baddies on one but not the other, balance differences on one and not the other, and even zero in on charge or no-preset limit CC accounts, and LOCs, as TU can sometimes look at those differently over EQ. Any of these differences can result in large score differences. In some situations, a new baddie can drop your score 100+ and not every baddie or good account will report on all 3.

A big guide in spotting these differences are the first 3 pages of each report. Look for differences in util, AAoA, length of credit history, inquiry count, recent accounts, or any other info if listed. The next page to target is the Credit At-A-Glance page. Those will show red flags as to what hurts. Finally, if all else fails review each account individually. Remember, any differences can mean a big point difference.

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

CallyGal — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:02:54 GMT

Good Morning,

Apologizing in advance if this question has been asked previously..first time posting on here!

I have pulled my credit reports from TU (743) and EQ (721) and having a WalMart CC have also pulled my FICO score there (684).

Can someone tell me why the MyFICO TU score is 59 points higher than the WalMart TU score?

Are they not one in the same?

Thanks!

Calley

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

pakman92 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:08:11 GMT

CallyGal wrote:
Good Morning,

Apologizing in advance if this question has been asked previously..first time posting on here!

I have pulled my credit reports from TU (743) and EQ (721) and having a WalMart CC have also pulled my FICO score there (684).

Can someone tell me why the MyFICO TU score is 59 points higher than the WalMart TU score?

Are they not one in the same?

Thanks!

Calley

While they are both FICO scores, myFICO sells TU98 version of the score whereas Walmart gives you TU08 version of the score. HOWEVER, most lenders use neither of those, they use TU04.

TU98 (myFICO) is the older version, TU04 is used most by the lenders and TU08 (Walmart) is newer version that has not been picked up quite yet.

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

jdenver — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:19:35 GMT

My Experian has always been dreadfully low compared to the others.

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

CallyGal — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:30:01 GMT

Pakman92,

Thank you for your quick response:-)

So, the question begs an answer why wouldn't MyFICO be using the be using the TU04 version? Most of us, (I would assume) are looking to get mortgages, cars, financing..

It would tell me then the TU98 is outdated....

Do we as consumers then have access to the TU04 version? Or is this strictly available to lenders?

Have a great day!

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

llecs — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:25:03 GMT

You cannot pull TU04 from anywhere unfortunately. Most of us wish myFICO would offer TU04.

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

lalaliscious — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:44:03 GMT

I received a denial letter from a Credit Union and they listed the credit score listed by Experian and it's 130 points less than my TransUnion score!

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

nickf4rr — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:42:16 GMT

My suggestion is pulling the EX report and really going over it line by line, comparing it to your other reports. I haven't yet gotten a FICO on my EX report, but I know my EX report has a ton of other accounts on it and all my HPs from the last 24 months. I wouldn't doubt if my EX score was 100 points lower than my TU or EQ scores. Even my TU and EQ FICOs are 40 points apart and the only difference is AAoA and a HP on the EQ report (even though EQ is higher with the HP...)

Since you were denied credit, you're entitled to your EX report for free--so you can compare what might be pulling down that score. (HPs, less AAoA, etc.)

Re: Why is my Experian score 74 points lower than my TU and Equifax scores?

sarkell — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:52:46 GMT

My exp is the same way 60 points lower. I think this is the only thing thay exp scores lates I have 4 on one account. Much harsher than tu & eq which. I will app amex again in 6 months probably just to see if I get another score. I also have more inqs there well see.