topic TU and EQ Score Difference in Understanding FICO® Scoring

TU and EQ Score Difference

Whereis750 — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:11:16 GMT

Just pulled wife's TU and EQ FICO scores: EQ 724 and TU 694. A difference of 30 points. The two credit reports are IDENTICAL with one exception: EQ showing 1 inquiry from September 2011.

Both CRs display the following info:

Oldest Acct - 5 years, 7 months

AAoA - 4 years

Anyone have an idea as to why there is a 30 point difference? Seems like this inquiry should not cause such a large difference.

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

marty56 — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:42:48 GMT

Check # CCs reporting a balance. TU is more picky then EQ.

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

llecs — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:16:22 GMT

And TU dislikes baddies more, and EQ seems to weigh util more....IME anyway

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

Whereis750 — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:52:01 GMT

Thanks for the replies. Here is her credit picture:

Both TU and EQ Report the following:

- No Baddies ever. From Day One to Today nothing negative on either report.

- Only TLs are: 4 open revolving, 1 closed revolving (at consumer's request - not sure why she closed this TL, she was 18 at the time and can't remember).

- All 4 revolving accounts reporting balances (same balance amounts reporting on both reports).

- Util % same for both reports

Only difference between the TU and the EQ reports, TU (score 694) showing 1 inquiry in Sept 2011 while EQ (score 724) showing 0 inquires. So knowing this, does it make sense for there to be a 30 point difference in score?

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

Quips — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:28:16 GMT

Another possible difference is the TU doesn't like too many cards carryinig a balance - my TU was 14 pts lower than EQ - mainly for that reason as well as the fact that TU doesn't pick up CL's (or high balances) on some revolving accounts (like the BOA CR VISA) so the UTI may be higher on TU.

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

Whereis750 — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:44:06 GMT

Thanks Quips - I guess with all revolving accounts reporting balances and the 1inq showing up on TU it's what's tanking the score, whereas EQ seems to be more resistent to these factors.

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:49:13 GMT

I have a wide variance in my TU and EQ scores with basically the same information. TU dings me for having "non-mortgage balances too high" but EQ ignores that item.

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

Whereis750 — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:04:30 GMT

My personal TU and EQ reports have about 99% of the same info reported, and the score variance is 14 points (to me, that difference is acceptable). On the other hand, my wife's TU and EQ reports are also 99% identical with the exception of 1 inq on TU and 0 on EQ, and the score variance is 30 points. That seems absurd to me.

The rule makers in this credit game have mastered the art of convolution. Between 3 national CRAs who don't work together and countless versions of FICO scoring models, it's, to say the least, a bit frustrating making sense of it all.

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

Anonymous — Sat, 12 May 2012 04:37:16 GMT

My situation is opposite. TU 660, EQ 617, only difference is that eq has 1 inq, tu has 6.

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

Anonymous — Sat, 12 May 2012 11:54:55 GMT

TU and EQ use different methods of calculating scores.

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

Whereis750 — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:28:41 GMT

My thinking may be completely off here. I thought FICO did the scoring not the individual CRAs. TU and EQ are simply data compilers?

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

llecs — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:22:16 GMT

Each of the CRAs use a different FICO formula when the score is generated. I guess this is because each CRA commissioned FICO to generate that for them. So, each FICO tends to weigh each item a tad differently. IME, EQ weighed util much more. Baddies stung more on EX and TU. If everything is EXACTLY the same the score variance between all 3 CRAs is approx. 10 points on the high side. But anything can throw the scores off like different dates, util calcs (TU does it a bit differently onm TU98), balances, lates, number of accounts, etc. Any of these can trow your scores off by a lot.

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

Whereis750 — Sun, 13 May 2012 20:19:26 GMT

So FICO develops more than one scoring formula and the CRAs choose which formula they want to use to analyze the consumer data they've compiled? So I wonder then, how independent and objective is Fair Isaac when it is catering it's product to their customers', that is the CRAs', demands.

I naively assumed when a consumer purchases his FICO score, the process went like this: the CRA makes your report available to Fair Isaac' computers and the score is computed objectively with no influence from the CRA. WHen in fact the very formula being used has been crafted based on the CRAs specifications?

Re: TU and EQ Score Difference

llecs — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:05:49 GMT

Sorta...I think the differences are due to licensing agreements with the CRAs. The development of the score is based on lender input though, as opposed to the CRAs. Remember, the FICO wasn't available to any consumer for years, but pressure opened up the score for consumer access, viewing, and even purchase. It was the lender that was the end-user. However...IMO, FICO is shooting themselves in the foot by not opening the score up even more. If myFICO.com offered all of the other FICO versions out there (e.g. auto-enhanced, CC-enhanced, TU04, TU08, Beacon 9.0, and any EX flavor), I'd be first in line to buy them. FICO is not being very consumer-friendly, IMO.