2 totally different scores????

Anonymous · ‎08-03-2011

So I just checked my cedit score through Transunion and it was 743 which made me soo happy... and then i checked my Fico score on here which is 625... I'm so confused... aren't credit and Fico scores pretty much the same thing?? how can I have 2 scores soo different??

MarineVietVet · ‎08-03-2011

@Anonymous wrote:
So I just checked my cedit score through Transunion and it was 743 which made me soo happy... and then i checked my Fico score on here which is 625... I'm so confused... aren't credit and Fico scores pretty much the same thing?? how can I have 2 scores soo different??

Hi jesanne28 and welcome.

I agree that scores and how they are used is VERY confusing and I wish it weren't so but unfortunately that's the world we live in right now and we have to deal with it.

Until a few months ago TU (Transunion) did sell a TU FICO score at transunioncs.com. (Note the -cs at the end). But no more. The scores you get from transunion.com are called VantageScores and are not TU FICO scores. Besides using a different scoring formula than FICO the VantageScores range from 501-990 whereas FICO scores range from 300-850. That is why the VS is so much higher than the TU score you pulled here.

I believe a few lenders use the VS to make credit decisions but I have yet to see a post where someone knows for sure a VS was used on their credit application. So the bottom line is to just ignore the VS because it doesn't help you know where you really stand. The TU score from myFICO is a FICO score and although it's an older version (TU98) millions of lenders still use it.

And besides all that 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. Wal Mart now offers a TU score to those who have their store card and/or Discover version.

Equifax will still sell you a FICO score but you have to look very hard to find it. You can get to it here: www.equifax.com/web-myfico-products/

I hope this answers some of your questions. If you stick around and read lots of older threads about FICO scoring you'll get a much better sense of it all.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

Anonymous · ‎08-03-2011

I'll piggyback on what MarineVietvet said. This is from llecs:

"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. Equifax does sell FICO scores but it is very hidden and difficult to find. It's not on their products page. 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.

Pulling your own credit and FICO score here never hurts your credit or results in a hard inquiry.

You can save 1/3 too! As of a couple of years ago, Experian has blocked consumers from purchasing their own EX FICO score. As a result, you can only get TU and EQ from here. However, lenders still use it and will give it and there's a CU in PA called PSECU that gives iit away for free each month if you bank with them. That's the only two places I know of that offer access to your EX FICO, each free.

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)."

Hope that helps!

Anonymous · ‎10-23-2011

I paid for my FICO score through EQUIFAX. My score was shown as 671. I knew it would be low due to a business bk in 2009. However, in attempting to reestablish my score, I applied for "secured" credit through BOA, they rejected my application with a follow-up letter indicating that my my FICO score was 595.

Is there a different FICO scoring indexe used by lenders? This doesn't make sense to me.

GregB · ‎10-23-2011

The EQ FICO here is Beacon 5.0, which is probably the most useful EQ FICO since it is the version used by almost all mortgage lenders.

There is a BankCard Industry version of that score that takes your Beacon 5.0 and adds or subtracts to that score based upon BankCard specific information. That is one likely possibility for the score BofA used. There are 3 more Industry Specific versions of Beacon 5.0 but the other version that you are most likely to see is the Auto Industry version.

There is also a later version of EQ FICO called Beacon 9. There are 5 Industry Specific versions of this but the two most likely to be seen are BankCard and Auto.

The letter from BofA may give you some info on the type of score. It also might give you a score range, which could help identify the version. For example Beacon 5.0 and 9 have a design range of 300-850. The BankCard Industry versions have a design range of 250-900.