topic Re: Transunion in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Transunion

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:54:11 GMT

A lender told me yesterday what my fico was with Transunion. Didn't like what I heard so I went and pulled my fico for them from fico.com. It is giving me a totally different figure. we are talking a 57 point difference. Can anyone tell me what is going on? How can the lender get a different number then what is on fico.com?

Re: Transunion

fused — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:18:38 GMT

Your lender, if they really did pull a TU FICO score, probably pulled your scores using the lastest TU FCIO scoring model. It's called TU 04. The ones you pull from this site are TU 98, an older model. A 57 point point difference does seem very odd. Do you know if there is anything different on the two reports?

Re: Transunion

RobertEG — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:39:01 GMT

Hi McGraw, and welcome to the insanity!

From my experience, when you first deal with a lendor/creditor, you are dealing with a cust. serv rep who knows about as much about credit scoring as I do about nuclear quantum physics. They often refer to any score they have access, from whatever source, as being a "FICO" score.

TU is a CRA. Any score referenced simply as a "TU" score only means that whatever method was used to produce that score was based on data in your TU credit file. It does not mean that it is a FICO score. And most lendors rely only on FICO scores.

Unless you get scores from myFICO, then you have no assurance that the score being provided to you was generated from the FairIsac FICO algorithm.

TU generates scores based on totally different scoring models. TU licenses the ability to report FICO scores based on the FairIsaac scoring algorithm, but the CRAs also have their own scoring algorithm, called Vantage, which is in no way comparable to FICO scoring. If you are dealing with TU, of course they want to vend to you their Vantage score rather than FICO, And most of the vendors of credit scores are not FICO scores. Ignore them.

Any lendor/creditor can base their credit decisions upon whatever model/score they wish to use. But dont let them snow you with representation that the score they give you is FICO. Your experience has clearly shown the opposite, and thus you have drawn the curtain back from the Wizard behind the Oz.

Re: Transunion

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:14:07 GMT

If you really want to have some fun, take the TU FICO score you purchased here, print it out and show your lender. Then ask him to show you how he got HIS number. I bet you get a "well.....I didn't keep the information..........not sure where it is now.........let me get back to you...."

If he truly pulled your FICO, then he will have documentation proving this. Not that he necessarily will show you (they are not required to unless a part of a mtg application), but if he does not, he is full of it.

Re: Transunion

jbh — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:21:20 GMT

This leads to an interesting question:

What IS the REAL TU score, then? The 98 or 04? What do Lenders prefer to use for their approvals? This is an eye opener, and I thank you Fused for bringing this up.

(Sorry to hijack but I figure this is something many people are not aware of)

Re: Transunion

fused — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:38:43 GMT

jbh wrote:
This leads to an interesting question:

What IS the REAL TU score, then? The 98 or 04? What do Lenders prefer to use for their approvals? This is an eye opener, and I thank you Fused for bringing this up.

(Sorry to hijack but I figure this is something many people are not aware of)

Most lenders are using TU 04.

Re: Transunion

MichiganMommy — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 12:47:14 GMT

Check out this thread!!!!!!

http://fico.lithium.com/fico/board/message?board.id=loans&thread.id=20215

Read this article...it is old, but I believe still accurate:

Out-dated Credit Score Models Are Lowering Some Applicants' Scores
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Homebuyers' credit scores may be artificially lower--and their loan rate quotes needlessly higher--when lenders use outdated credit score software, say mortgage brokers. Ken Harney explains.

Read the Full Story At:

http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20020218_creditscore.htm

Hope this info helps someone....

MM--

Re: Transunion

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:45:02 GMT

If the scores aren't necessarily accurate, then quite frankly...why I am paying to track my scores? I mean, I want to buy a condo in the next six months or less (if not, then at least rent for goodness sake). I need fairly accurate scores to even persue the act, considering how many renters/lenders require a good score. If I've got a low shot of getting whatever is noted here, which was actually higher than my Experian by 25 or more points, why pay for the opportunity? Does that babbling make a lick of sense? I'm just concerned about the money I've spending to make my credit better. It's not cheap and if it's a waste money on the TransUnion, I can just keep it for things like gas.