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@longtimelurker wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:The number of CC accounts having any balance effects your score. Optimally, you should have only 1 CC with under a 10% balance and every other CC at zero balances. Even small balances on multiple CCs and overall utilization under 10% will result in small score drops. A 3-5 point score drop per CC account reporting minimal balances is normal. Both my EX and EQ tend to react, but TU is more forgiving when it comes to this from what I have seen. My score frequently goes up and down 10-20 points between months because I use multiple rewards cards and they all generally show balances each month before I PIF.
I've asked this before but didn't get an answer. Is the REALLY a difference between the ways CRAs work? My belief was that when a lender gets say a FICO 08 from EX and EQ, EXACTLY the same algorithm is run (in fact the FICO 08 algorithm!) on the data that the CRA holds, and differences are due to differences in the data.
But several people here seem to report stuff like the quote, that agency X reacts differently from agency Y. I would still assume this is just a data difference, but anyone know with a reasonable amount of certainity?
I think there is undoubtedly a difference in how they work. My 3 reports all have EXACTLY the same data. ALL of my accounts report on ALL 3 of them. But they don't all react the same way to things like balances reporting, at least according to MyFico monitoring. I almost never have 2 scores moving at the same (or near the same) time in reaction to a balance change. It's almosts always TU or EQ, rarely both. Experian never changes.
@LuckyBird wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:The number of CC accounts having any balance effects your score. Optimally, you should have only 1 CC with under a 10% balance and every other CC at zero balances. Even small balances on multiple CCs and overall utilization under 10% will result in small score drops. A 3-5 point score drop per CC account reporting minimal balances is normal. Both my EX and EQ tend to react, but TU is more forgiving when it comes to this from what I have seen. My score frequently goes up and down 10-20 points between months because I use multiple rewards cards and they all generally show balances each month before I PIF.
I've asked this before but didn't get an answer. Is the REALLY a difference between the ways CRAs work? My belief was that when a lender gets say a FICO 08 from EX and EQ, EXACTLY the same algorithm is run (in fact the FICO 08 algorithm!) on the data that the CRA holds, and differences are due to differences in the data.
But several people here seem to report stuff like the quote, that agency X reacts differently from agency Y. I would still assume this is just a data difference, but anyone know with a reasonable amount of certainity?
I think there is undoubtedly a difference in how they work. My 3 reports all have EXACTLY the same data. ALL of my accounts report on ALL 3 of them. But they don't all react the same way to things like balances reporting, at least according to MyFico monitoring. I almost never have 2 scores moving at the same (or near the same) time in reaction to a balance change. It's almosts always TU or EQ, rarely both. Experian never changes.
The MyFico monitoring doesn't help here. They have different triggers to report (which says nothing about the score) in particular EX requires much bigger changes to inform the monitoring that there has been a change.
EX alerts only if a balance change is > 5% of credit limit, the others a $1 change
And also from that doc:
It seems like I receive a lot more Equifax alerts – Why is that?
Each bureau has different thresholds for sending an alert. Equifax alert thresholds are much lower than the other two bureaus, resulting in more alerts.
Is that what people are refering to? Note that your score can change and not receive an alert, you need to pull the three bureau report and your scores will magically update.
With the FICO® 3-Bureau Monitoring product, do I receive an alert every time my score changes?
No, the FICO® 3-Bureau Credit Monitoring product only provides score updates that are the direct result of a change to a monitored credit file. This happens through the credit file monitoring feature of the product.
EQ is weird. I got an alert that one of my account balances dropped by $73 - 100%, and the score went up 3 points. Next alert one of my account balances dropped $207 - 100%, and the score didn't change.