FICO score discrepancy... citibank error?

[Anonymous]

One of my friends has both a citibank card account and a DCU account. To my knowledge, both use Equifax for their scores. But, the Citibank score is 751 and the DCU score is 702. Both from last week. What could explain such a large discrepancy?

[takeshi74]

There's no discrepancy.  You're not considering the specific scoring model.  Don't assume that all FICO's are the same and always consider both the scoring model and CRA.  See also the Understanding FICO Scoring subforum for more info on the various FICO scoring models used by creditors.

Off the top of my head Citi provides an EQ FICO 8 Bankcard.  That is not the same thing as an EQ FICO 8.  It's not only a different algorithm but a different point scale.  IIRC, DCU provides an EQ FICO 4 but you should verify that.

Also consider the relevance of a scoring model/CRA combo for a given creditor.  If, for example, you have a creditor that uses an EQ FICO 8 Bankcard then a TU FICO 8 is not relevant to that creditor.  Even an EQ FICO 8 is not relevant.  You cannot use a score generated by one model to determine a score generated by a different model.

[taxi818]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

One of my friends has both a citibank card account and a DCU account. To my knowledge, both use Equifax for their scores. But, the Citibank score is 751 and the DCU score is 702. Both from last week. What could explain such a large discrepancy?

---

Agree with take. no discrepency. Most people for what ever reason assume there is just 1 fico score;.But in realitiy there are about 53 different versions of a fico score for each bureau.

Examples.

Auto Enhanced. Bank Card. Mortgage Score. Different scoring models as well. Fico 5 in equifax case and fico 8.

So based on the info you just said about. To be specific. Citi uses on their website fico 8 Bankcard version. Which the scores are generally higher and based on credit cards. Dcu is probably using fico 5 version none Bankcard. So that would be the difference. Comparing an apple to an orage. here at my fico they list most of your idfferent versions and they would match. in my case. Equifax fico 8 which is the most commonly used. is 710. however citi's version says my bankcard score is 726. which ok they are both fico 8 models. however my credit union which uses the older model of fico 5 says my equifax is 663. If ever you want to know which version a particular bank is using. simply go to the credit pulls database. Type in the name of the lender and the state where you are from. And based on your geographical area it will tell you which version a lender uses. Then look up that version of fico and you will know your score. Sorry but credit has become a science and it is never in the borrowers favor. Another example i bought a car 2 months ago. I was confident in my Auto enhanced scores.

at the time Eq was 680. Transunion was 735 and Experian was 715. Can you guess which one the lender used? of course 680 which would be my lowest score so they could get a higher interest rate on the loan. the lower your score the higher interest they can change. They are not gonna want to use your highest score and give you very low interest if possible. Hope this helps to explain so you can understand fico a little better and the different scoring modls that are out there. and they are all ficos.