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@Dr-Acme wrote:
Good morning everyone.. I have read a few threads where folks have complained that EQ, TU or EX (to one person or the other) were harder to get up than the other.
No matter which institution your FICO comes from, don't each use the same model if it's a FICO Score? No. Each credit reporting agency has developed a separate FICO scoring formula that is based on the same broad criteria (i.e. payment history, utilization, account age, etc.) but with differences in the way that the score is calculated. So, identical information contained at TU and EQ, for example, may yield different scores. In addition, there are industry-specific FICO scores - the most commonly cited example is the so-called "auto-enhanced" score that auto lenders use - which give added weight to prior auto loan history.
And the different score reflects slightly different info on their respective report? Yes and no. As mentioned above, identical information among the credit reporting agencies may result in different scores. But it's common to see differences in the information contained at each CRA.
And if all three scores are within a few points, then they may have about the same info? Again, this is hard to answer for the reasons above. I would probably say that if your scores a similar, then at the very least you might be able to say that there aren't any major derogatory entries at one CRA and not the other.
And if thats the case, then correcting the information (on each reporting institution) will bring the scores from all three into close proximity to each other? Maybe and maybe not. I have closely matching information on my EQ and TU, and my scores have sometimes been as much 30 points apart.
So instead of blaming EQ, TU or EX perhaps it's the banks reporting format to these agencies that are unclear? And occasionally one needs to contact the bank to update their information more clearly (or correctly)? Yes, sometimes you have to contact the reporting financial entity to correct the error there, because if you correct the problem with the CRA but not the bank sending the incorrect information, then the error will reappear on your reports the next time the bank reports the same erroneous information.
With one exception, I called the banks to update their reports to the crediting agencies and it worked very well and it took a lot less time and effort than writing a formal letter to the EX, EQ or TU... IMO, the bank has a real investment to keep customers happy (even if they are past customers), so reporting accurate information should be an easy request for them.
WOW, thank you LeI!!! I have been looking for clearification on those questions for a while now. I'm looking to buy a house in 3 years, it will be interesting to see which score center (EQ, EX and or TU) the banks lean towards when researching FICO scores. By the way, generally speaking, which score has been hardest to get higher: EQ, EX or TU?
Good afternoon everyone!! I just realized that today that EX has my HELOC listed as a credit line secured, not as a home equity line of credit like EQ & TU shows it as. The implication with EX is it shows on my available credit to debt used. So my utilization with EX is 34% and with the others it’s around 4% (all cr4edit cards are paid in full each month). My score doesn’t seem to suffer from this, but it seems wrong to lump a 2nd mortgage in with my credit cards. Can anyone tell me if this status with EX can be updated to show this as a Home equity loan??? Thanx.
@Dr-Acme wrote:WOW, thank you LeI!!! I have been looking for clearification on those questions for a while now. I'm looking to buy a house in 3 years, it will be interesting to see which score center (EQ, EX and or TU) the banks lean towards when researching FICO scores. By the way, generally speaking, which score has been hardest to get higher: EQ, EX or TU?
Each CRA develops a score formula in cooperation with FICO. When it comes to mortgages, lenders pull all three and go with the middle score. If there is a co-applicant on the mortgage, the lender goes with the lower middle score. So one applicant can have 780 - 792 - 822, and the other has 570 - 593 - 680, and the lender will use that 593.
As for lenders who only pull one score, as is typical with most CC's and installment loans, they usually go with the score that they've always used, because they run their own internal checks on how their previous customers have worked out with various scores. So if they find that in their experience, applicants with a TU of 690 or below (this is completely a for-instance) default at a much higher rate than those with 691 and above, they might set a cut-off of 691 for approvals. Meanwhile, another company might find that their existing customers do fine with a TU of 665 and above, or they use EQ, and 708 is the magic number. Lenders are incredibly slow to change from what they're familiar with, so you don't see a lot of changing in which bureau is pulled. I do remember, though, that about 3 years ago, a lot of CCC's suddenly switched to Experian. This was at the same time that Equifax and TransUnion were having lots of problems with the stability of their reports, losing inquiries and splitting files, so my guess is that Experian took advantage (good business sense) and grabbed some new customers.
As for the hardest to get up, it depends on what is going on with your scores. For instance, many of us find that Equifax "hates lates" and scores identical reports with lates lower than the other two. Just an example. Many would say that an Experian FICO is the hardest to increase, because it can be so difficult to get Experian to remove incorrect and damaging info from reports, so the score is artificially lower. But that's not a function of the EX FICO formula; that's due to EX's famed stubbornness.
edit: cna't splel
EQ is 760 as of October 2, 2010!
Paid off my car loan and had only one CC report a balance.
That's terrific, jaysdad2k!
Congratulations! You're now a FICO High Achiever.
Hi everybody! New here, and kinda surprised to find myself in the "High Achievers" club
I had pretty high revolving utilization on 4-5 cards until about a year ago when I refinanced my house and took out some equity to zero out the cards. I was even able to drop the term from ~27 years remaining to a 20, and still pay less monthly. I think at the time, I was sitting around a 700. Happy to say that today EQ scored me at 783
Welcome to the Forums, TLinFargo! We're so happy you could join us!
Congratulations on your great EQ score!
Nice going, TL!
And--How's everything in Fargo?
Fargo is great. In fact I have to thank our steady economy and real estate market for making the refi work so well. My appraisal came out $15k higher than the appraisal and purchase price in '06.
On a more recent note, the weather this week has been fantastic.