What kind of scores are these?

[Duke-of-Earl]

I’ve been meaning to update my siggy for a while, and to do so I had to track down what’s FICO and what’s FAKO in the scores that three different mortgage lenders reported to me.  The lenders reported identical scores for each CRA, but neither the score names nor the ranges they specified agree among the different lenders.  This little table shows the CRA and score, and for each lender, the score name and range they reported:          

EQ  813    Lender 1    Equifax Beacon 5.0              300-850
           Lender 2    Equifax Beacon 50               300-850
           Lender 3    Equifax Beacon                  350-850

EX  842    Lender 1    Experian Fair Isaac V2          300-850
           Lender 2    Experian Fair Isaac             150-950
           Lender 3    Experian Fair Isaac             350-850

TU  823    Lender 1    Transunion FICO Classic 2004    300-850
           Lender 2    FICO Risk Score Classic 04      336-843
           Lender 3    Trans Union Empirica            350-850

Lenders 1 and 3, obviously, were pretty careless about specifying the correct ranges, just giving the same ranges for all three scores (but different for each of those lenders) .  Lender 2 might be believed, but in general I have no confidence that the score ranges are accurate enough to determine what kind of scores these are.

I’d appreciate any input on these questions:

1)  "Equifax Beacon" doesn't say "FICO" in the name.  Is this a FICO or a FAKO?  What is the correct score range?
2)  "Experian Fair Isaac" presumably is a FICO, alright.  But which score range is right?  I thought all FICO scores had a 300-850 range.  I can't imagine I'd have an 842 FICO, but OTOH 842 out of 950 is lower than I'd expect.
3)  "FICO ... Classic ... 04" is also presumably a FICO.  Is the reported 336-843 range actually right?  Again, I didn't expect my score to be so high.  And is "Empirica" the same thing?

Thanks.

[llecs]

They are all FICO scores.

1) For EQ, "Beacon" is a brand name for your EQ FICO. Specifically, Beacon 5.0 is the same EQ FICO as found on here and is used by almost all lenders.

2) For EX, Version 2 is used by almost all lenders and was the same version offered here at one point. It's also the same version offered for free via PSECU. The 150-950 range could be a typo on Lender#2's end. There is an EX FICO range of 150-950 called [a NextGen score, specifically the "Fair Isaac Advanced Risk Model"]. Also, if all 3 lenders produced 842, then it wouldn't be a FICO [NextGen] Score since the odds of the [NextGen] Score and your Classic FICO (the Fair Isaac V2) matching are virtually impossible.

3) For TU, the Classic 04 is used by most lenders (called here TU04), and is unlike the TU98 offered here on myFICO. Empirica is a brand name just like Beacon.

Lender #3 has a typo on the ranges. It should be 300-850. BTW, 300-850 is pretty much just a trademark for FICO. The ranges aren't exactly 300-850. They will vary across the FICO version used, as evidenced by Lender#2 for TU.

ETa...corrected error on score name.

[vanillabean]

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@llecs wrote:

The 150-950 range could be a typo on Lender#2's end. There is an EX FICO range of 150-950 called the EX FICO Expansion Score. This score is used by some mortgage lenders if you have limited credit experience or a thin file.

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A google on FICO 150 934 though returns TU, not EX?

[llecs]

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@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

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@llecs wrote:

The 150-950 range could be a typo on Lender#2's end. There is an EX FICO range of 150-950 called the EX FICO Expansion Score. This score is used by some mortgage lenders if you have limited credit experience or a thin file.

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A google on FICO 150 934 though returns TU, not EX?

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Thanks for catching that. I googled, but went on faith on the first post.

Looks like it is a NextGen Score (Fair Isaac Advanced Risk Score)...off to correct.

I still think it's a typo. The odds of the two scores matching are probably impossible.

[Duke-of-Earl]

Wow.  Many, many thanks, llecs, for the thoughtful and comprehensive reply, and to my-own-fico for a correction.  I have updated my siggy accordingly.  Maybe I should update my avatar too, out from behind the 8-ball!

[pakman92]

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@Duke-of-Earl wrote:

Wow.  Many, many thanks, llecs, for the thoughtful and comprehensive reply, and to my-own-fico for a correction.  I have updated my siggy accordingly.  Maybe I should update my avatar too, out from behind the 8-ball!

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Those are impressive scores.  Congrats!  For what reason did you have those scores pulled?

[Duke-of-Earl]

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@pakman92 wrote:

Those are impressive scores.  Congrats!  For what reason did you have those scores pulled?

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Thanks, better than I had expected (except for the EQ) from the scores I had pulled here.  These were for a mortgage refi.  I applied to 3 different lenders to get the best rate I could, and of course each of them pulled all three scores -- fortunately identical for each CRA.  So I got a total of nine INQs out of the deal -- but I did get a great rate.

[Anonymous]

Super impressive scores

WOW!!!

[FrugalRican]

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@Duke-of-Earl wrote:

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@pakman92 wrote:

Those are impressive scores.  Congrats!  For what reason did you have those scores pulled?

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Thanks, better than I had expected (except for the EQ) from the scores I had pulled here.  These were for a mortgage refi.  I applied to 3 different lenders to get the best rate I could, and of course each of them pulled all three scores -- fortunately identical for each CRA.  So I got a total of nine INQs out of the deal -- but I did get a great rate.

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If it's a REFI, I'd take the rate over the INQ's any day.

Congratulations.

[jello77]

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@Duke-of-Earl wrote:

I’d appreciate any input on these questions:

2)  "Experian Fair Isaac" presumably is a FICO, alright.  But which score range is right?  I thought all FICO scores had a 300-850 range.  I can't imagine I'd have an 842 FICO, but OTOH 842 out of 950 is lower than I'd expect.

3)  "FICO ... Classic ... 04" is also presumably a FICO.  Is the reported 336-843 range actually right?  Again, I didn't expect my score to be so high.  And is "Empirica" the same thing?

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I see several incorrect things in the information your lender provided you.

(1) The score range for Experian is not 150 to 950. It is also not 300 to 850. The actual, real world score range for the version of Experian FICO you received  is 320 to 844. With your EX score of 842, this means you are just 2 points below the maximum possible score. Only one other person on this board has ever reported a higher score than yours (in 2009, bulbisaur reported a perfect score of 844).

(2) The real world score range for this version of Equifax FICO is 334 to 818. With your EQ score of 813, you are just 5 points below the maximum possible score.

(3) The real world score range for this version of Transunion FICO is 309 to 839. The range of 336 to 843 the lender stated is for the TU98 version of FICO. With your TU score of 823, you are 16 points below the maximum possible score.

For more information about the various FICO versions and the "real world" score ranges, see this previous post:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/The-many-flavors-of-FICO-Editions-version...