Out of the 3, which has the toughest scoring system?

[Anonymous]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:

Each credit bureau hires FICO to create a unique scoring formula, based on their (the CRA's) preferences. Each one has knows turn-ons and turn-offs, to quote Playboy bunnies. When you or someone else pulls your FICO scores, the CRA's crank your reports through their unique FICO formulae, and ta-da, there are your scores, almost always all different.


Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 09-24-2008 08:49 AM

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ok, one more time and then let's put this to rest.  I have never said, nor do I expect the scores to be the same.  I do not agree with the bolded statement above which was, in a nutshell, the basis for this thread.  The statement above implies that that scores turn out differently because the bureaus are trying to 'stick it to us' for various reasons. e.g EQ hates lates, etc. I agree that it may appear that way but it is because their data is different (when I say data I mean the raw data records that are being used by the model, not the simplified reports that consumers see).  We are talking about enormous datafiles (probably terabytes of info) that are being maintained for the entire U.S. credit-using population and all kinds of different naming conventions/field definitions/default field values, etc used by the 3 bureaus which is why the models need to be custom fit like a well tailored suit.

We've already established that the scores are different because the timing of data exchange between creditors/credit bureaus is unlikely to line up at the exact time your scores are calculated even if you think your information is the same at all 3 CRA's.  When Fair Isaac creates the model for each bureau they are taking their basic financial risk model and customizing it to accept the data structure used by the respective bureau and making necessary adjustments so that a level of consistency is achieved across the 3 bureaus. So yes, the models are different by necessity but the methodology is the same and the intent by Fair Isaac is for the 3 bureaus scores to be as consistent as possible. I guarantee that they do not let the CRA's decide their preferences for how the scores are calculated.

[fused]

Northeasterner, What you are arguing about has nothing to do with what the OP aksed. You are guilty of thread jacking.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

ok, one more time and then let's put this to rest.  I have never said, nor do I expect the scores to be the same.  I do not agree with the bolded statement above which was, in a nutshell, the basis for this thread.  The statement above implies that that scores turn out differently because the bureaus are trying to 'stick it to us' for various reasons. e.g EQ hates lates, etc.

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I'll continue the TJ briefly, because I never implied that there was a motivation to punish the consumer. That's absurd, and I don't know how you read that into my statement. I meant what I said: Each CRA has different viewpoints on what credit behaviors are important, and those viewpoints show in their resulting scores. Not because they're meanies, but because they think that it makes their scores better predictors.

And brace yourself for pure speculation here: Now that the three main CRA's have moved beyond the paper stage, they are less geographically dominant (EQ in the southeast, for instance.) So I think they have to market themselves to lenders partly on what is distinctive with their scores and their reports. If a particular lender thinks that lates are big-time red flags, wouldn't it make sense for them to work with a bureau that feels the same way? And so forth. Again, this part is speculation, but it might be a reason that these differences exist.

So please don't go announcing that I said that the formulas are different in order to punish people, because I didn't. It is just very easy to note the differences in scores here on the forum. I earned my lates, I don't pretend that they should be overlooked. If EQ is grumpier about them than the others, so be it.

[Anonymous]

It is time to lock this thread...please.  

Northeasterner doesn't get it.

[marty56]

FICO forum headlines:

Posters riot over which CRA has the toughest scoring system.

Never would have figured a thread like this would go south.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@marty56 wrote:

FICO forum headlines:

Posters riot over which CRA has the toughest scoring system.

Never would have figured a thread like this would go south.

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!

[Anonymous]

OMG!!!!!!

[haulingthescoreup]

It really does seem to have run out of gas. We'll let it go nighty-night now. Interesting "discussion", though!