Understanding FICO® Scoring

[bt5418]

I had a student loan that I defaulted on but was eventually paid via garnishment. After starting my rebuilding journey I was wondering why my EQ is more than 40 points lower than my TU. I found that ECMC a student loan guarantor is reporting several 120 days late on EQ however they are not doing the same on TU, it just shows as collections. After speaking with ECMC regarding a GW (thought I'd give it a shot-fail) I asked her about this and she said that they should not be reporting any kind of lates, just that it was collections. Could this be the reason why the scores are so different? I know that scores will never match exactly but I know that multiple 120 days late can bring your score down drastically. Any thoughts on this?

[RobertEG]

I doubt that it is even a factor.

That raises an unanswerable question as to how FICO scores cumulative derogs.  Does each have its own negative impact, and they are summed up, or does the occurence of a later, and higher, level of delinquency include the impact of any reported, lower levels of delinquency?

My guess, using only my own logic, is that FICO uses only the highest level of delinquency.  Whether a credtior chose to report a lower level of delinquency would not logically, in my opinion, change the total scoring impact of the current or highest level of delinquency.  Its the same situation.