topic Re: Question on Experian score in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Question on Experian score

tennisfan78 — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:05:00 GMT

My current scores are TU- 715 , Equifax - 691. I have recently applied for BOA Visa card, and found out through them that my experian score is 676.

I was just curious, why there is so much differnce between the 3 credit reporting agencies.Is Experian usually the lowest historically?Any ideas?

I have been very careful with my credit over the past year, and carrying low balances (less than 10 percent) and always paying in full every month. Hopefully, it will help raising all the 3 scores over the time.

And btw, Thank God, BoA did approve me (even though it was only $500), as I am in the rebuilding process.

Re: Question on Experian score

MarineVietVet — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:43:15 GMT

@tennisfan78 wrote:
Hi
My current scores are TU- 715 , Equifax - 691. I have recently applied for BOA Visa card, and found out through them that my experian score is 676.

I was just curious, why there is so much differnce between the 3 credit reporting agencies.Is Experian usually the lowest historically?Any ideas?

I have been very careful with my credit over the past year, and carrying low balances (less than 10 percent) and always paying in full every month. Hopefully, it will help raising all the 3 scores over the time.

And btw, Thank God, BoA did approve me (even though it was only $500), as I am in the rebuilding process.

This is most definitely a YMMV situation. My EX has always been the highest of the 3 and TU the lowest so I just accept what I can't change.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

Re: Question on Experian score

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 03:49:48 GMT

What state are you in? If you don't mind me asking

@tennisfan78 wrote:
Hi
My current scores are TU- 715 , Equifax - 691. I have recently applied for BOA Visa card, and found out through them that my experian score is 676.

I was just curious, why there is so much differnce between the 3 credit reporting agencies.Is Experian usually the lowest historically?Any ideas?

I have been very careful with my credit over the past year, and carrying low balances (less than 10 percent) and always paying in full every month. Hopefully, it will help raising all the 3 scores over the time.

And btw, Thank God, BoA did approve me (even though it was only $500), as I am in the rebuilding process.

Re: Question on Experian score

tennisfan78 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:38:41 GMT

state is ND

@Anonymous wrote:
What state are you in? If you don't mind me asking

Re: Question on Experian score

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:16:58 GMT

@MarineVietVet wrote:
@tennisfan78 wrote:
Hi
My current scores are TU- 715 , Equifax - 691. I have recently applied for BOA Visa card, and found out through them that my experian score is 676.

I was just curious, why there is so much differnce between the 3 credit reporting agencies.Is Experian usually the lowest historically?Any ideas?

I have been very careful with my credit over the past year, and carrying low balances (less than 10 percent) and always paying in full every month. Hopefully, it will help raising all the 3 scores over the time.

And btw, Thank God, BoA did approve me (even though it was only $500), as I am in the rebuilding process.
This is most definitely a YMMV situation. My EX has always been the highest of the 3 and TU the lowest so I just accept what I can't change.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

So far for me TU has been the highest according to CC Lender Pull, followed by EQ at the moment since I am not sure where I stand with EX right now

Re: Question on Experian score

tennisfan78 — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:45:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So far for me TU has been the highest according to CC Lender Pull, followed by EQ at the moment since I am not sure where I stand with EX right now

Same here as well. But I was surprised to see so much differences in the scores though.

Re: Question on Experian score

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 03:22:36 GMT

Compare the items on each credit report and see if everything matches

Re: Question on Experian score

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:14:40 GMT

@tennisfan78 wrote:
Hi
My current scores are TU- 715 , Equifax - 691. I have recently applied for BOA Visa card, and found out through them that my experian score is 676.

I was just curious, why there is so much differnce between the 3 credit reporting agencies.Is Experian usually the lowest historically?Any ideas?

I have been very careful with my credit over the past year, and carrying low balances (less than 10 percent) and always paying in full every month. Hopefully, it will help raising all the 3 scores over the time.

And btw, Thank God, BoA did approve me (even though it was only $500), as I am in the rebuilding process.

Does it say somewhere there, fer sher, fer sher, that this is your EX FICO score?

I would expect that it is, but the way things change, you never know.

If the letter or whatever says somewhere very clearly and specificly that it's a FICO score, then I agree with PP: pull your EX report and see where it's different from the other two. If it doesn't say that it's your FICO score, then you are probably looking at a FAKO, so it wouldn't be too surprising that it's out of synch with the other two.

Re: Question on Experian score

tennisfan78 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:05:58 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
Does it say somewhere there, fer sher, fer sher, that this is your EX FICO score?

I would expect that it is, but the way things change, you never know.

If the letter or whatever says somewhere very clearly and specificly that it's a FICO score, then I agree with PP: pull your EX report and see where it's different from the other two. If it doesn't say that it's your FICO score, then you are probably looking at a FAKO, so it wouldn't be too surprising that it's out of synch with the other two.

I got a letter from BOA congratulationg on the approval,showing the score and also mentioning that the score was from Experian.

Re: Question on Experian score

terren2000 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:16:26 GMT

Experian alwasy the highest.

Transunion always the lowest.

Re: Question on Experian score

Ms-Kato — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:22:57 GMT

@terren2000 wrote:
Experian alwasy the highest.
Transunion always the lowest.

The exact opposite with me..go figure.

Re: Question on Experian score

tennisfan78 — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:01:53 GMT

@Bluerain wrote:
@terren2000 wrote:
Experian alwasy the highest.
Transunion always the lowest.

The exact opposite with me..go figure.

Same with me too. TU the highest and Experian lowest.

Re: Question on Experian score

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:59:16 GMT

I believe it all depends on what's being reported on each CRA. If you have a mortgage or personal loan it may only be reported to one of the CRA's and the score could be less due to DTI

Re: Question on Experian score

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:53:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I believe it all depends on what's being reported on each CRA. If you have a mortgage or personal loan it may only be reported to one of the CRA's and the score could be less due to DTI

Scoring doesn't consider DTI (debt-to-income), because your score reports don't include your income. (Thank goodness.)

A big factor in FICO scoring is your revolving utilization (util; reported balances divided by reported credit limits), which is different from DTI but frequently confused, but this doesn't include installment and mortgage balances. It's only revolving credit, generally meaning credit cards, lines of credit, and home equity lines of credit (not home equity loans.)

Installment util IS scored, meaning your loans and mortgage, but it's a relatively small factor in scoring.

However, it's very true that your scores will vary even more than usual if some accounts are on one report but not on the others. It can affect your length of history, your credit mix, presence or absence of negatives, util, all those goodies. This is true for any kind of account.

That's why it's so important to at some point pull all three reports, print them out, and go through them with a highlighter, comparing what is and is not on each report.

Re: Question on Experian score

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:09:05 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I believe it all depends on what's being reported on each CRA. If you have a mortgage or personal loan it may only be reported to one of the CRA's and the score could be less due to DTI
Scoring doesn't consider DTI (debt-to-income), because your score reports don't include your income. (Thank goodness.)

A big factor in FICO scoring is your revolving utilization (util; reported balances divided by reported credit limits), which is different from DTI but frequently confused, but this doesn't include installment and mortgage balances. It's only revolving credit, generally meaning credit cards, lines of credit, and home equity lines of credit (not home equity loans.)

Installment util IS scored, meaning your loans and mortgage, but it's a relatively small factor in scoring.

However, it's very true that your scores will vary even more than usual if some accounts are on one report but not on the others. It can affect your length of history, your credit mix, presence or absence of negatives, util, all those goodies. This is true for any kind of account.

That's why it's so important to at some point pull all three reports, print them out, and go through them with a highlighter, comparing what is and is not on each report.

I agree with you 100%...the DTI really applies to Credit Issuers with the new CC laws basing only personal income not HHI for DTI To provide an example I tried to get a CLI on my discover card and spoke with an OPR who asked me a million questions to determine my DTI

Re: Question on Experian score

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:12:19 GMT

That's very true. Scores ought to be just one factor in deciding whether to extend credit. Getting lazy and going strictly on scores got a lot of lenders in trouble over the last few years.

Re: Question on Experian score

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:20:00 GMT

Haha it sucks for me when I have done great managing credit and debt. Being I am still in my 20's and have managed credit cards wisely for 10 years plus carrying a mortgage for the past 8 years with no lates or defaults. I got shafted between 08-10 with CLD's/closure from Citi/Discover/Amex due to negative stuff on my report. I didn't know how bad it could affet my credit being an AU on someone's else card until recently. If only a human would review someone's credit report instead of a computer in regards to CLD or closure they would see that the card was not mine and could have notified me and asked me about it. Oh well I am living and learning the in's and out of credit now and picking up the pieces and moving forward with a brighter aspect on how to work the credit system to my advantage