Experian score much higher than my other scores?

[Anonymous]

So I have been using Credit Karma for a while to periodically check in on my TransUnion and Equifax scores, but tonight I was curious about the one I'm missing, Experian. I also get my TransUnion score on my Discover bill, and I will be getting Equifax on my new Citi bill starting probably next month, which only made me more curious about the (to me) elusive Experian score. Now I know scores vary a bit depending on where you get them, Credit Karma reports a 706, while Discover reports a 731, should I consider the one on my bill more accurate?

Anyway, on to the real question, I got my score from the experian site itself, and it said my score was 758, much higher than I expected... which is great! But why?

Also, I then found out that Credit.com has the Experian score for free once a month, so I signed up for that, and it said 743 for the "National Equivalency Score", then 704 for VantageScore 3.0 (which Credit Karma also claims to use). That last one matches up pretty well, if we're going by Vantage Score 3.0, I'd have TU: 706, EQ: 706, EX: 704

With the scores being all over the place I don't know which one to go by, why do they vary so much, what do these different methods mean? Either way, I'm pretty happy with the scores I have at this point, but I'm just confused.

[Anonymous]

Not to sure why there wasn't a reply to this yet but I think I can help a little. After reading the forums over and over again I learned that you really can not trust the Credit Karma Scores or even the scores that the credit card companies give. My Credit Karma EQ is saying 612 lol I wish on here its 552 my lowest score. My TU is 596 on CK and 571 on here. When I pulled my EX from Experian it was the exact same as I have on My Fico. I believe that CK and other sites like it have a different scoring system based off what they can pull from the CRA's. Banks/Lenders will not see that score but the true score from the actual CRA's. Also I notice that CK doesn't update my account information regularly so that could be the main cause. 

[Anonymous]

The really weird thing is that the score I pulled straight from Experian was higher than the score I got from credit.com.... both versions.

[Stylez]

Vantage Score is a system that was formulated by the credit boroughs. They are used in about 10% of lending decisions. They should all be pretty close. The Experian National Equivlancy Score is an educational score that is used in no lending decisions. The score from Discover is a FICO TU 08 score. The score from Experian is  FICO 08 scored as well. FICO is used in about 90% of lending decisions. So your FICO scores are your most relivant scores, followed by Vantage scores. Of course, there are several different versions of FICO scores, and the one your lender uses could be different than the one you get from Discover or Experian's website.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information, that explains a lot about the various scores, I knew that credit scores varied between the credit bureaus, but I didn't know why there were different scores from the same bureau. I does make sense that my Experian is a little higher though, because upon closer review of my report, there was a loan that my parents made in my name for my car 6 years ago when I bought it, but apparently it only showed up on Experian, so my age of credit is much higher for Experian compared to TransUnion and Equifax, as they seemingly have no record of it?

[racer-x]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I have been using Credit Karma for a while to periodically check in on my TransUnion and Equifax scores, but tonight I was curious about the one I'm missing, Experian. I also get my TransUnion score on my Discover bill, and I will be getting Equifax on my new Citi bill starting probably next month, which only made me more curious about the (to me) elusive Experian score. Now I know scores vary a bit depending on where you get them, Credit Karma reports a 706, while Discover reports a 731, should I consider the one on my bill more accurate?

Anyway, on to the real question, I got my score from the experian site itself, and it said my score was 758, much higher than I expected... which is great! But why?

Also, I then found out that Credit.com has the Experian score for free once a month, so I signed up for that, and it said 743 for the "National Equivalency Score", then 704 for VantageScore 3.0 (which Credit Karma also claims to use). That last one matches up pretty well, if we're going by Vantage Score 3.0, I'd have TU: 706, EQ: 706, EX: 704

With the scores being all over the place I don't know which one to go by, why do they vary so much, what do these different methods mean? Either way, I'm pretty happy with the scores I have at this point, but I'm just confused.

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For now, disregard any scores from CK, credit.com, quizzle, credit sesame, etc...

The myFICO scores are FICO 08 models....which is a good all-purpose model and is the dominant scoring model used by lenders.

However, depending on what you are looking to finance or if you're looking to add credit card accounts to your file, there are MORTGAGE, AUTO, and BANKCARD (credit card) FICO models/scores.

You can buy a 3-Bureau report from myFIco and see the various scores and models used in a particular category. (except for transunion, you only get the score for now)

For example, my EQ 08 is 701, mortgage is 692, auto  is 687, and Bankcard is 691.

You'll have different scores for EX too.

If I were financing a car, the dealer/bank would use the 687 score and not the Fico 08 model which is 701.  Same goes for a mortgage.  The lender would use my 692 not the Fico 08 score, 701.

Take a few days or months to read up on scoring and fico and whatnot.  And even then, you/we still won't understand most of it. lol.