cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Difference in FICO 08 Scores at Equifax

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Difference in FICO 08 Scores at Equifax


@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:
Is the 12% of 50K on one CC or multiple cards? Is it a CC, charge card or AU? If multiple card, can you break down the utilization/CL of each?

Sure! Here is the current breakdown (same on all 3 cards):

 

7 Cards showing a balance (all CC, 12 total cards)

 

1. $5/5000 0.1%

2. $39/300 13%

3. $66/750 8.8%

4. $29/300 9.67%

5. $4388/10000 43.9%

6. $805/12200 6.6%

7. $743/3000 24.8%

 

Again, each report shows same balance across each card. Side-note, I know this many statement balances is not a good way to optimize my score. Several annual fees hit at once on cards I rarely use. Additionally, Card #5 typically doesn't have such a large balance, just forgot to pay off before statement cut.  But again, this info is reflected on all 3 reports, Equifax is the only that seems to care (if this is the reason for the big gap between that report and the others).

 

 

 


I'm not sure, one of the more fico gurus may will hopefully chime in, but I don't know if there is a penalty if 100% of your cards report a balance.  If so, I wonder if EQ penalize more for this?  Just a thought, as nothing is popping up from what you've share so far.

 

Maybe knock 1-4 down to 0 and see what that does to your scores.

Message 11 of 19
CreditBob
Established Contributor

Re: Difference in FICO 08 Scores at Equifax

Right off the bat you have a balances on multiple revolving accounts. Multiple is two or more credit cards that have a balance. #4 & #5 that you stated are showing high balances of 67% & 44%.

 

Here is what I would do. Payoff all but one credit card. On the last revolving account leave a $ 10 balance for the optimal score. Allow all inquiries to age past 12 months. Then pull a new Equifax report & see what happens. In the mean time do not apply for new credit so it does not hurt your average account age.

Message 12 of 19
CreditBob
Established Contributor

Re: Difference in FICO 08 Scores at Equifax

Message 13 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Difference in FICO 08 Scores at Equifax


@CreditBob wrote:

Right off the bat you have a balances on multiple revolving accounts. Multiple is two or more credit cards that have a balance. #4 & #5 that you stated are showing high balances of 67% & 44%.

 

Here is what I would do. Payoff all but one credit card. On the last revolving account leave a $ 10 balance for the optimal score. Allow all inquiries to age past 12 months. Then pull a new Equifax report & see what happens. In the mean time do not apply for new credit so it does not hurt your average account age.


For optimal scoring, CreditBob is right, you only want one card reporting a balance and all the other cards reporting 0.  

 

However, if that is not currently financially feasible, if your overall util is <9%, shoot for less than 50% of your cards reporting a balance.  This why I suggested knocking cards 1-4 on your list down to zero since they have lower balances and may be easier to tackle right out of the gate. But if you're wanting to optimize your scores, you only want want one of the cards to report a balance and all others report 0 with an overall util less than 9%.

Message 14 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Difference in FICO 08 Scores at Equifax

Thanks both of you for the advice! I've paid all but one down to $0, and that one will be reporting less than 10% utilization when it closes. It will be a few weeks before the credit reports reflect the new balances, but 2 of them are Chase cards that typically report again when the balance reaches $0 so maybe it will be soon.  Is it possible that Equifax is more sensitive to a higher number of accounts reporting? 

Message 15 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Difference in FICO 08 Scores at Equifax


@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks both of you for the advice! I've paid all but one down to $0, and that one will be reporting less than 10% utilization when it closes. It will be a few weeks before the credit reports reflect the new balances, but 2 of them are Chase cards that typically report again when the balance reaches $0 so maybe it will be soon.  Is it possible that Equifax is more sensitive to a higher number of accounts reporting? 


EQ has always been my worse score.  It's closer now to TU than it's ever been.  It's been father apart in the past, but recently caught up.  It seem to be a tougher score - atleast for my profile - YMMV. Smiley Happy  I suspect you will see a good 20 - 30 points jump, if your scores behave as mine did when I did the same. Smiley Happy  Good luck!

 

If you remember, please update your post with the results so others can learn from you! Smiley Happy

Message 16 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Difference in FICO 08 Scores at Equifax


@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks both of you for the advice! I've paid all but one down to $0, and that one will be reporting less than 10% utilization when it closes. It will be a few weeks before the credit reports reflect the new balances, but 2 of them are Chase cards that typically report again when the balance reaches $0 so maybe it will be soon.  Is it possible that Equifax is more sensitive to a higher number of accounts reporting? 


Just to clarify, to avoid fico penalty, you want the overal util to be less than 9% (so < 8.99%).

Message 17 of 19
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Difference in FICO 08 Scores at Equifax


@Anonymous wrote:

Hello, I've been reading here regularly for a while and I've searched the forum for a definitive answer on this and I can't seem to find what I'm looking for (apologies if I have missed it). I accessed my FICO 08 scores at Credit Check Total today (the first time I've downloaded my actual FICO 08s), and was surprised that my Equifax score was much lower than Transunion and Experian.  To answer the obvious questions, the reports are mostly showing the same information (see below) and they are legitimate FICO 08s. So my question is what's up with Equifax?

 

 

Equifax 663

Utilization: 12% (on 50.2k available)

159,619.00 in mortgage debt

40,694.00 in installment debt

2 late accounts (1.3 years ago- don't get me started on this)

6 inquiries (4 in last year, 2 in last 6 months)

no public records

4.1 years oldest account (2.8 years AAoA)

22 total accounts

 

Transunion 722

Utilization: 12% (on 50.2k available)

159,619.00 in mortgage debt

35472.00 in installment debt

2 late accounts (1.3 years ago)

7 inquiries (6 in last year, 5 in 6 months)

no public records

4.1 years oldest account (2.8 years AAoA)

20 total accounts

 

Experian 719

Utilization: 12% (on 50.2k available)

Mortgage doesn't show

8448.00 in installment debt

1 late accounts (1.3 years ago)

7 inquiries (3 in last year, 2 in 6 months)

no public records

4.1 years oldest account (2.8 years AAoA)

18 total accounts

 

The revolving debt levels are the same across all reports. You'll see that the Equifax and TransUnion are mostly identical, 2 small installment accounts (work-related) that are a little over 3 years old (all on-time payments) show on Equifax and not TransUnion so that's the only big differences. Thoughts?


To my eye, the reports look wildly different.

 

I wouldn't be expecting the scores to be the same.


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 18 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Difference in FICO 08 Scores at Equifax


@SouthJamaica wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

Hello, I've been reading here regularly for a while and I've searched the forum for a definitive answer on this and I can't seem to find what I'm looking for (apologies if I have missed it). I accessed my FICO 08 scores at Credit Check Total today (the first time I've downloaded my actual FICO 08s), and was surprised that my Equifax score was much lower than Transunion and Experian.  To answer the obvious questions, the reports are mostly showing the same information (see below) and they are legitimate FICO 08s. So my question is what's up with Equifax?

 

 

Equifax 663

Utilization: 12% (on 50.2k available)

159,619.00 in mortgage debt

40,694.00 in installment debt

2 late accounts (1.3 years ago- don't get me started on this)

6 inquiries (4 in last year, 2 in last 6 months)

no public records

4.1 years oldest account (2.8 years AAoA)

22 total accounts

 

Transunion 722

Utilization: 12% (on 50.2k available)

159,619.00 in mortgage debt

35472.00 in installment debt

2 late accounts (1.3 years ago)

7 inquiries (6 in last year, 5 in 6 months)

no public records

4.1 years oldest account (2.8 years AAoA)

20 total accounts

 

Experian 719

Utilization: 12% (on 50.2k available)

Mortgage doesn't show

8448.00 in installment debt

1 late accounts (1.3 years ago)

7 inquiries (3 in last year, 2 in 6 months)

no public records

4.1 years oldest account (2.8 years AAoA)

18 total accounts

 

The revolving debt levels are the same across all reports. You'll see that the Equifax and TransUnion are mostly identical, 2 small installment accounts (work-related) that are a little over 3 years old (all on-time payments) show on Equifax and not TransUnion so that's the only big differences. Thoughts?


To my eye, the reports look wildly different.

 

I wouldn't be expecting the scores to be the same.


I would agree that the Experian report is kind of an outlier, but the differences between Equifax and TransUnion don't seem like they'd cause a nearly 60-point difference. The only real difference is two installment accounts that are nearly paid off and no negatives  that's reporting on Equifax and not TransUnion.  I don't see why that alone would hurt my Equifax score at all (since they are over 3 years old, paid on time, and nearly paid off), much less by 60 points. Thoughts?

Message 19 of 19
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.