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Can anyone explain scoring discrepancy?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Can anyone explain scoring discrepancy?

My Equifax score of 648 seems like it should be higher then my TU of 664. Can anyone tell me what it is that is deflating the Efax score?

Efax: 648
Good Accounts:
Discover: $8000 Line/$100 Balance - Perfect for 11 Years
Citi: $8000 Line/$10 Balance - Perfect for 2 years

Bad Accounts:
Cap1 - $1283 High Balance from 12/01

Paid Collections:
Medical - Paid $643 Balance in Full in December

No Unpaid Collections
No Inquiries
No Public Records

TU: 664
Good Accounts:
Citi: $8,000/$10 Balance - Perfect for 2 years
Citi: $10000 Line/$100 Balance - Perfect for 2 Years

Bad Accounts:
Cap1 - $1283 High Balance from 12/01

Unpaid Collections:
Midland $1700 - Falls of in July 08 - Made payments up to November
Prof Collections - $1700 - Made payments up to November - Falls of Jan 2009 (disputing this as it went into default in december 01)

Inquiries: 3
Public Record: Paid Tax Lien - Falls off in 3/08

***

Efax has a longer good credit history since it reports the 11 yo Discover Card
Efax has zero inquiries vs 3 for TU
Efax has no Public Records vs the 7 year old paid lien for TU
Efax has one recent PAID Collection vs 2 Unpaid Collections (which I had been payhing off through late last year so there was recent activity)

Both have the same bad Cap1 old account so that can't account for the difference.
The inquiries and old lien have to hurt to a degree even though they are fairly old

So the only real difference is the Paid Collection on Efax vs the unpaid on TU.
Message 1 of 7
6 REPLIES 6
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Can anyone explain scoring discrepancy?

VantageScore vs. FICO score

The VantageScore is based on six variables, versus the FICO score's five variables. Here's a comparison of the two:

 

 

 

Vantage score

Payment history                          32%

Uttilization                                 23%

Balances                                               15%

Depth of credit                           13%

Recent credit                             10%

Available credit                            7%

Total                                        100%

 

 

FICO score

Payment history                         35%

Length of credit history               15%

Amounts owed                           30%

Types of credit uses                   10%

New credit                                 10%

 Total                                       100%

 

Message 2 of 7
Junejer
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Can anyone explain scoring discrepancy?



@Anonymous wrote:
My Equifax score of 648 seems like it should be higher then my TU of 664. Can anyone tell me what it is that is deflating the Efax score?

Efax: 648
Good Accounts:
Discover: $8000 Line/$100 Balance - Perfect for 11 Years
Citi: $8000 Line/$10 Balance - Perfect for 2 years

Bad Accounts:
Cap1 - $1283 High Balance from 12/01

Paid Collections:
Medical - Paid $643 Balance in Full in December

No Unpaid Collections
No Inquiries
No Public Records

TU: 664
Good Accounts:
Citi: $8,000/$10 Balance - Perfect for 2 years
Citi: $10000 Line/$100 Balance - Perfect for 2 Years

Bad Accounts:
Cap1 - $1283 High Balance from 12/01

Unpaid Collections:
Midland $1700 - Falls of in July 08 - Made payments up to November
Prof Collections - $1700 - Made payments up to November - Falls of Jan 2009 (disputing this as it went into default in december 01)

Inquiries: 3
Public Record: Paid Tax Lien - Falls off in 3/08

***

Efax has a longer good credit history since it reports the 11 yo Discover Card
Efax has zero inquiries vs 3 for TU
Efax has no Public Records vs the 7 year old paid lien for TU
Efax has one recent PAID Collection vs 2 Unpaid Collections (which I had been payhing off through late last year so there was recent activity)

Both have the same bad Cap1 old account so that can't account for the difference.
The inquiries and old lien have to hurt to a degree even though they are fairly old

So the only real difference is the Paid Collection on Efax vs the unpaid on TU.


nyccc2, is your TU from myfico.com or from TU direct?






Starting Score: 469
Current Score: 849
Goal Score: 850

Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Message 3 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Can anyone explain scoring discrepancy?

All scores are from MyFico.

I have the Fico Complete, Scorewatch and Identity Monitoring.
Message 4 of 7
Junejer
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Can anyone explain scoring discrepancy?



@Anonymous wrote:
All scores are from MyFico.

I have the Fico Complete, Scorewatch and Identity Monitoring.


Since the scores are from myfico.com, you can discard that Vantage score information for the purposes of what we are talking about here.

I understand how it seems like it should be higher to the common-sense based individual. But, we are not dealing with common-sense, we are dealing with credit scoring. Because of the algorithms used, there will always be score differences between the three CRAs. The three CRAs use a slightly different algorithm to calculate a FICO score. One CRA may ding you harder for an inquiry than another. One likes to see an open mortgage on the reports. One is more harsh with a 30 day late than the others, etc. The scoring range for EQ & EX is 300-850. The range for TU is 336-843. All things being equal, the scores are very likely to be different from all three CRAs. That's just the crazy FICO world that we live in.






Starting Score: 469
Current Score: 849
Goal Score: 850

Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Message 5 of 7
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Can anyone explain scoring discrepancy?

For months and months, my EQ score has been 30 to 50 points lower than EX and TU, which are usually within 8 to 10 points of one another. In my experience, confirmed by the experience of my three adult kids, EQ is death on lates, and it penalizes much more harshly. Also in my experience, TU penalizes for having half or more of all open tradelines (including loans) with balances. Other things I've heard is that EX penalizes for inqs, and TU for not having a mortgage.

These differences occur because the different CRA's value different behavior in consumers. I would guess that this is another factor that businesses use in choosing which CRA to pull reports and scores from.

@Junejer wrote:
The scoring range for EQ & EX is 300-850. The range for TU is 336-843. All things being equal, the scores are very likely to be different from all three CRAs. That's just the crazy FICO world that we live in.
ByrdMan, that's interesting about the different score range for TU! Where did you find this?
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 6 of 7
Junejer
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Can anyone explain scoring discrepancy?

HTSU, it's listed on my tri-merge reports...shows the range for all three of them.






Starting Score: 469
Current Score: 849
Goal Score: 850

Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Message 7 of 7
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