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FICO vs. Equifax Score

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TrueGeminiNC
Frequent Contributor

FICO vs. Equifax Score

This morning I received an email from Equifax advertising their Equifax Complete Premier plan for $12.95 a month.  The Equifax Complete Premier plan provides unlimited access to Equifax Credit Reports and Score.  

 

After doing some back of the envelope math, the Equifax plan will be cheaper in comparison to what I am paying for ScoreWatch from myFICO.  I am agressively monitoring my credit score and the fee for refreshing my Equifax and TransUnion reports via myFICO is getting expensive.  

 

My question for the forum is, how different is an Equifix FICO score vs. an Equifax Score?  

 

Before switching to myFICO's ScoreWatch product, I used freecreditscore.com which provided unlimited access to my Experian credit report and Score.  However, the score provided by freecreditscore.com was significantly inflated.  Conversely, this is what led me to switch to to ScoreWatch from myFICO.com.  

 

Does anyone else have any experience with the Equifax scoring model and how it compares to FICO?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
thom02099
Valued Contributor

Re: FICO vs. Equifax Score


@JAY305 wrote:

This morning I received an email from Equifax advertising their Equifax Complete Premier plan for $12.95 a month.  The Equifax Complete Premier plan provides unlimited access to Equifax Credit Reports and Score.  

 

After doing some back of the envelope math, the Equifax plan will be cheaper in comparison to what I am paying for ScoreWatch from myFICO.  I am agressively monitoring my credit score and the fee for refreshing my Equifax and TransUnion reports via myFICO is getting expensive.  

 

My question for the forum is, how different is an Equifix FICO score vs. an Equifax Score?  

 

Before switching to myFICO's ScoreWatch product, I used freecreditscore.com which provided unlimited access to my Experian credit report and Score.  However, the score provided by freecreditscore.com was significantly inflated.  Conversely, this is what led me to switch to to ScoreWatch from myFICO.com.  

 

Does anyone else have any experience with the Equifax scoring model and how it compares to FICO?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 


Check this thread:  http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Credit-Bureaus-Score-Models/m-p/1721360/h...

llecs gives a very good explanation of all of the various scorings offered by the 3 CRAs vs what one can get here at MYFICO

Message 2 of 10
TrueGeminiNC
Frequent Contributor

Re: FICO vs. Equifax Score

Thanks!  I am agressively working to get my score above 700 and despite the potential for cost savings with the Equifax product, I suppose it is best to stick with myFICO.

 

 As mentioned in my initial post, I switched to myFICO because the scores received from other products were noticably inflated. 

Message 3 of 10
thom02099
Valued Contributor

Re: FICO vs. Equifax Score


@JAY305 wrote:

Thanks!  I am agressively working to get my score above 700 and despite the potential for cost savings with the Equifax product, I suppose it is best to stick with myFICO.

 

 As mentioned in my initial post, I switched to myFICO because the scores received from other products were noticably inflated. 


I use ScoreWatch here and have for several years.  I'm satisfied with the product, and I'll purchase a report if I need it.  Right now, I don't, since I'm not applying for credit that would  require keeping my scores up as high as possible.  I don't sweat the details if a score drops for whatever reason.  I know that it will rebound usually the following month.  I also use CreditSesame as well as Credit Karma to monitor trends.  I don't place a whole lot of value on the scores, but they generally have a good alerting system.

Message 4 of 10
lifeisgreat
Established Member

Re: FICO vs. Equifax Score

I followed the link to see if it was any help for my question - but it did not completely help me ---

 

Ok, I have a question I will post in two places to see who can help.  I currently purchase the MyFico Quarterly Monitoring in an effort to improve my score and clean up my report.  I have a MyFico score from Jan & April - stayed the same in fact.  My credit union just sent a letter denying renewal of their Visa due to the baddies on the report - and the low score.  The letter indicated I had an Equifax Score of 578 as of January 2013, but in fact my Trans Union Fico from MyFico is 615.  Before I call to negotiate this cancellation, I want to know exactly where to get an Equifax Score that matches what they are looking at.  When on the MyFico website, I do not see where I can purchase an Equifax Score - only the report.  Though I do want a report so that I can see if the baddies are reported as being paid, which almost all should be paid by now, I also want to have a current score in my hand prior to calling.

 

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.


Starting Score: EX 573; EQ 489; TU 521 (Lender Pulled 7/12/11)Current Score: FICO TU 615 (4/3/13); FICO EQ 585 (5/12/13)Goal Score: 725
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Message 5 of 10
TrueGeminiNC
Frequent Contributor

Re: FICO vs. Equifax Score

From these forums, I have learned that there are lots of credit scoring models out there.  Additionally, a second layer of complexity is added when you factor in the different versions of each respective scoring model.  

 

From my personal experience, I have used various products and they all generate a different score; some better and some worse than others.  

 

In short, I have decided to stick with myFICO.  Notably, there is a consensus that the FICO scoring model is the most widely used model among creditors/lenders.  However, keep in mind that again there are different versions of the FICO model.    To put this into context, if these lenders are like my company--they don't quickly run out to adopt the most current version.  For example, we are still using Windows 98 at my place of work despite the varying interations of Microsoft Windows that have been released.

 

With this information, I now consider the score generated by myFICO as a solid baseline score.  As long as my score via myFICO moves in a posiitive direction, I can only assume that the other scoring models are doing the same.

 

Lastly, despite my desire to achieve a higher score, I have stopped trying to figure out which scoring model a particular lender uses and why it doesn't align with other models/products.

 

I hope this helps.

Message 6 of 10
thom02099
Valued Contributor

Re: FICO vs. Equifax Score


@lifeisgreat wrote:

I followed the link to see if it was any help for my question - but it did not completely help me ---

 

Ok, I have a question I will post in two places to see who can help.  I currently purchase the MyFico Quarterly Monitoring in an effort to improve my score and clean up my report.  I have a MyFico score from Jan & April - stayed the same in fact.  My credit union just sent a letter denying renewal of their Visa due to the baddies on the report - and the low score.  The letter indicated I had an Equifax Score of 578 (did it say FICO Equifax?  If not, it's likely an internal ie, FAKO score. What was the score range?)  as of January 2013, but in fact my Trans Union Fico from MyFico is 615. Equifax and Transunion are likely to be different; they are completely different CRA so you really can't compare the two different responses...like comparing apples and oranges.   Before I call to negotiate this cancellation, I want to know exactly where to get an Equifax Score that matches what they are looking at.(that's likely to be an impossibility, as reports can change daily; you would have to pull a report at exactly the same time/date as the lender)  When on the MyFico website, I do not see where I can purchase an Equifax Score - only the report.  Both the score and report are available here; I get mine all the time.   Though I do want a report so that I can see if the baddies are reported as being paid, which almost all should be paid by now, I also want to have a current score in my hand prior to calling.

 

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.


Also keep in mind that there are a variety of different scoring models for each of the CRAs.  With Equifax there's a Beacon 5.0, the one that most lenders use, and a Beacon 9.0 that is a newer model and not as popular yet.  TransUnion from MYFICO is the TU98 model, and older model.   There's also a TU04 which is what most lenders use and the TU08, which is available from certain locales, like Walmart if you have their credit card. 

Message 7 of 10
longtimelurker
Epic Contributor

Re: FICO vs. Equifax Score

I agree with most of the response, but...

 

The letter indicated I had an Equifax Score of 578 (did it say FICO Equifax?  If not, it's likely an internal ie, FAKO score)

 


This score was from the lender, so isn't really a FAKO by definition.  It's not a FICO, but that's more of a problem for FICO.  The goal is to see the scores the lenders use.....

Message 8 of 10
lifeisgreat
Established Member

Re: FICO vs. Equifax Score

Thank you for the input - the short answer to the story - I was able to appeal the decision to close the card.  Yippee!  I can't tell you how excited I was.  The upside is I pulled a current Equifax report from here - the score was slightly higher with 585, but more importantly there was only 1 collection account left with a balance.  That one was paid just this last week, so I know it will show paid soon.  Now to keep sending my GW letters to see if any of the baddies will be removed.  It seems like a futile effort (GW ltrs), but I am trying. 


Starting Score: EX 573; EQ 489; TU 521 (Lender Pulled 7/12/11)Current Score: FICO TU 615 (4/3/13); FICO EQ 585 (5/12/13)Goal Score: 725
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Message 9 of 10
guiness56
Epic Contributor

Re: FICO vs. Equifax Score

CCC also use bankcard enhanced scores which weighs your CC TL more heavily.  It is still a FICO just a different model/version.

Message 10 of 10
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