topic Re: Trans Union Score in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Trans Union Score

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 18:56:32 GMT

Does anyone else have problems with Trans Union taking forever to update your credit scores, or is it only me? I've been working on improving my credit scores for the last 3-4 years, and this is severely hindering me in getting new credit. I can't get above 600 with them to save my life!! My TU score is always a LOT lower than the rest of them. As an example, it's currently 82 points lower than my Experian & Discover credit score, and it's 44 points lower than my Equifax score. On October 26, my TU went down 19 points for no reason at all. According to CK, the only thing that changed was that I LOWERED my current balance by paying my bills. Those were the only changes reported. You would think that lowering your total amount due would raise your score, and it does with everyone else, but apparently not with TU. I did not apply for new credit or have any new inquiries, so I'm not sure what's going on. It seems like most places use TU when doing inquiries, and even though I have 100% payment history with all of the credit reporting agencies, I can't seem to get past this lower score. It's extremely frustrating when I pay every single bill early. Any advice?

Re: Trans Union Score

Countryboy1 — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 23:26:26 GMT

Mine is the exact opposite. TU has always been my highest score with EQ lagging in last

Re: Trans Union Score

thornback — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 23:40:49 GMT

HI Lolabug - welcome to the forums!

@Anonymous wrote:
Does anyone else have problems with Trans Union taking forever to update your credit scores, or is it only me? I've been working on improving my credit scores for the last 3-4 years, and this is severely hindering me in getting new credit. I can't get above 600 with them to save my life!! My TU score is always a LOT lower than the rest of them. As an example, it's currently 82 points lower than my Experian & Discover credit score, and it's 44 points lower than my Equifax score. On October 26, my TU went down 19 points for no reason at all. According to CK, the only thing that changed was that I LOWERED my current balance by paying my bills. Those were the only changes reported. You would think that lowering your total amount due would raise your score, and it does with everyone else, but apparently not with TU. I did not apply for new credit or have any new inquiries, so I'm not sure what's going on. It seems like most places use TU when doing inquiries, and even though I have 100% payment history with all of the credit reporting agencies, I can't seem to get past this lower score. It's extremely frustrating when I pay every single bill early. Any advice?

So.. if sounds like you're monitoring scores from different scoring models.

The score you're getting from Experian (assuming it's Experian.com's free app) is your FICO 8.

The score you are getting from Discover (assuming this is the Disco Scorecard available to anyone) is also an Experian FICO 8. If it's the score you're getting as a Disco cardholder -- and you're logging into your account to view it -- then that would be your Transunion FICO 8.

Where are you seeing your Equifax and Transunion scores? Are both from Credit Karma? Credit Karma scores are not FICO -- they are of the Vantage 3 scoring model and often vary greatly from FICO scores becuase they weigh various aspects of, and changes to, your credit differently.

The majority of lenders use FICO scores to make credit decisions. Very few, if any at all, use Vantage scores. Credit Karma is good for monitoring activity on your credit reports (ie. balance changes, account openings, etc.) and that's it -- the scores provided may be ignored.

To view your FICO scores for all 3 bureaus, you can go to CreditCheckTotal.com and sign up for the $1 / 7-day trial. Just be sure to cancel before the trial ends. It's common for all three scores to have point variations but, so long as the information on all 3 reports are identical, the scores should be within a fairly close range.

Re: Trans Union Score

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 00:28:48 GMT

That is very helpful information. Thank you for taking the time to respond. Yes, I've been using Credit Karma to get scores from TU and Equifax, Experian's website, and Discover Scorecard. I've never heard of CreditCheckTotal.com, but I will definitely check it out.

Re: Trans Union Score

thornback — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 00:36:58 GMT

Lolabug wrote:
That is very helpful information. Thank you for taking the time to respond. Yes, I've been using Credit Karma to get scores from TU and Equifax, Experian's website, and Discover Scorecard. I've never heard of CreditCheckTotal.com, but I will definitely check it out.

You're very welcome -- also, I just had a thought, you may have trouble sigining up for CreditCheckTotal (CCT) because you are already an Experian member --- Experian owns CCT now and, once you sign in, it's the same exact website as Experian. Instead, you may have to upgrade your Experian Free Version to their paid version (CreditWorks Premium). I believe if you upgrade through the mobile app -- you get 1 month free and then each additional month is $19.99 (but you can cancel if you want). I don't believe the free month is offered through the website, only the mobile app.

Re: Trans Union Score

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 00:47:16 GMT

Okay, thank you for the heads up on that.

Re: Trans Union Score

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 00:54:02 GMT

I guess I've been looking in the wrong spot (Credit Karma). Maybe I'll get lucky and my TU Fico score will be higher than what they're showing me.

Re: Trans Union Score

thornback — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 00:58:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I guess I've been looking in the wrong spot (Credit Karma). Maybe I'll get lucky and my TU Fico score will be higher than what they're showing me.

Yep -- if all the info is the same, there's a good chance it's inline with your Experian score. Same with Equifax.

Inquiries seem to be the primary reason for the difference between my EQ score and my EX/TU scores. All my lenders use EQ. And, EQ apparently penalizes heavier for new accounts.