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Transunion and Experian

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Transunion and Experian

MyFico.com offers FICO scores for Transuion and Experian. Do the lenders look at these scores, or does Transunion and Experian use Vantage instead of FICO? Bascially, why purchase a FICO score from myFico.com if the only credit bureau that uses this score is Equifax? Is this a true statement? Please help me understand.
Message 1 of 21
20 REPLIES 20
Junejer
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Transunion and Experian

No, all of the three major CRAs use FICO. Most lenders across the country use FICO as well, when pulling scores.






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Message 2 of 21
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Transunion and Experian


@Anonymous wrote:
MyFico.com offers FICO scores for Transuion and Experian. Do the lenders look at these scores, or does Transunion and Experian use Vantage instead of FICO? Bascially, why purchase a FICO score from myFico.com if the only credit bureau that uses this score is Equifax? Is this a true statement? Please help me understand.


Hi, ARM, welcome to the forums!

myFICO sells all three scores: EQ, TU, and EX. Equifax also sells the EQ FICO from their site, which can get confusing. Real FICO's have a little gold seal on them. These scores are still the industry standard.

The scores that you get here are the classic FICO scores, commonly used by mortgage lenders. There are tweaked versions of FICO's for specific industries, like the credit card industry and the auto loan industry. These are essentially the basic FICO's weighted more heavily for CC use or car loan history, as appropriate.

The three bureaus got together and created the Vantage score. Some lenders are pulling the Vantage score, but only in addition to the FICO's. (I suspect they're trying to see how well they correlate with FICO's.)

To my knowledge, no traditional lender uses Vantage only, and none use the so-called "FAKO's" that you can buy from EX (the PLUS score), TU, and various credit monitoring services.

Clear as mud? Smiley Happy
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 3 of 21
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Transunion and Experian

According to information posted on Experian web-site, 10% of lenders use Vantage - whatever that means.  Do they use Vantage in conjunction w/ FICO?  Are these large national lenders?  What are they lending?  Good questions that I don't have answers to.
 
I can tell that for me, FICO and Vantage don't correlate very well.
 
I used to have EX FICO in 810 range and my EX Vantage was in mid-800s, i.e. Prime Plus.  Biggest issue was no mortgage, which I think costs around 50 Vantage points.
 
Now I have EX FICO in the 770 range and my EX Vantage is in 700 range, i.e. Prime.  Also, the "percentile" that Vantage places me is much lower than where FICO places me.
 
Vantage is very harsh with inquiries, new accounts, and high utilization.


Message Edited by ChumChurum on 01-22-2008 11:06 PM
Message 4 of 21
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Transunion and Experian

Thanks for your message. What makes it confusing is that we really don't know what logarithm the credit bureau will be use as a measuring tool, FICO or Vantage. Also, your right about the discrepancy between the score and the agencies. My Vantage score differs dramatically from my FICO score. This only confuses me more so. The inconvenience here is that you really don't know what score the lender will be using to make a judgment call, Vantage or FICO. I've been monitoring my score and credit report for quite some time now (using a Transunion product called TrueCredit). It wasn't until recently that I found out that TrueCredit doesn't use either of the two...instead, they've developed their own logarithm internally, which is not used by any lender. So, I've quit using that service. Guess I'll stick with this for a while. I'm not convinced to purchase the Transunion or Experian FICO score through MYFICO.com though until I understand that lenders are looking at the same score that I am through this website. BTW, have you ever pulled your credit score the traditional way (mail the credit bureau) and compare them to this website? If so, how did it turn out?
Message 5 of 21
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Transunion and Experian

There's no point in pulling your credit score from the bureaus, because except for Equifax, they won't give you your FICO. They have a nice little scam going, because most consumers vaguely know that there are credit scores assigned to them, which they probably ought to know, so when they pull their credit reports, the CRA's obligingly offer a score for an extra $5 or $10, never mentioning that the scores are FAKO's.

I actually still use TrueCredit, because I use it to monitor my credit reports. That's the basic difference: get your reports from the agencies or the monitoring services, but get your scores from FICO.

I do have to mention that the FICO's that you get here are the ones used by 50% or more of lenders. Each CRA commissions FICO for a unique formula, which is why your scores are usually different, even with identical reports. TU changed formulas a couple of years ago, but the new one isn't yet used by half of the lenders, so the old formula's score is what's available here. And I haven't the foggiest idea what the difference is between the two, and which lenders might pull the new score, when you've been looking at the old . Smiley Tongue
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 6 of 21
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Transunion and Experian

Thanks for your quick response. I need to tell you though that I just applied for a mortgage and the lender(s) did pull the scores from the credit bureaus and used the middle score. So, there might be a scam or outdated (TU) as you suggest, but the lenders are still relying on the scores pulled from the credit bureaus to determine creditworthiness. Am I missing something here?
Message 7 of 21
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Transunion and Experian

I think they're just using different terminology. Ask them if the scores that they pulled "from the credit bureaus" were FICO's. The EQ version is frequently called Beacon, I remember that from somewhere, and the TU version is Empirica (?)

The myFICO site is where consumers can pull their own scores, so I can see why the actual lenders would say that they are pulling scores from the bureaus. But more than likely, they're FICO scores, each one generated by the data that each bureau has.

If your lender says no, they're not FICO's, would you be willing to post who it is? Because typically the mortgage industry is the most conservative and last to change. That would be very interesting if they are switching their scoring models!
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 8 of 21
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Transunion and Experian

Look closely at the other CRA's.  Exp and TU do NOT offer or advertise their scores as FICO scores, because they legally cannot, and are not.  Sure, they are in the business of selling scores, but they are not scores that the vast majority of creditors look at.  FAKO is called fake-0 for a reason.
FairIsaac/FICO  is the recognized source of industry credit scores.  Period.
Talk to your lendor.  If they are in the minority who rely on FAKOs, then give them credence. Otherwise, ignore them.


Message Edited by RobertEG on 01-23-2008 08:22 PM
Message 9 of 21
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Transunion and Experian

I would only add that, when it comes to mortgage loans, neither FICO or FAKO are a determinative factor.  Credit scores, regardless of the CRA reports,, do NOT consider factors such as income, employment status, total debt to income, monthly debt, monthly housing, utilites, and other fixed payments, that most mortgage lendors will put under a microscope, and run through their own scoring algorithm, separate from the mighty FICO.
FICO is most important for unsecured, revolving credit.  Installment credit is a different ballgame.
Message 10 of 21
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