topic Re: Experian score range in General Credit Topics

Experian score range

Jamielei24 — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 22:51:57 GMT

My bank states they pull from Experian and the scale goes to 900. Which model are they using (bank rep was unsure but could tell me it goes to 900)? Need to be past 730 to qualify for their "A+" tier and drop my interest rate significantly. It's a HP so obviously I want to do it when the time is right.

thanks!

Re: Experian score range

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 01:04:35 GMT

Maybe one of the specialized FICO variants. See this link:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/The-many-flavors-of-FICO-Editions-versions-and-variations/td-p/1197617

Re: Experian score range

gdale6 — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 01:27:38 GMT

A FICO that goes to 900 is a bankcard enhanced version of FICO.

Re: Experian score range

Jamielei24 — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 04:39:25 GMT

thanks!! I had been reading through the thread. I did detemine that they used a bank enhanced. It's all still rather confusing to me. I get that's its really hard to figure out fico scoring. However my question is this: should I be pulling my experian report say once a month through myfico? If so is there a way to determine how it becomes "enhanced" from the score I get off myfico since the scale is higher? Or is that really the million dollar question?

Re: Experian score range

Revelate — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 06:38:41 GMT

@Jamielei24 wrote:
thanks!! I had been reading through the thread. I did detemine that they used a bank enhanced. It's all still rather confusing to me. I get that's its really hard to figure out fico scoring. However my question is this: should I be pulling my experian report say once a month through myfico? If so is there a way to determine how it becomes "enhanced" from the score I get off myfico since the scale is higher? Or is that really the million dollar question?

More like a billion dollar question unfortunately. We can make some inferences vis a vis if you have no revolving tradelines your Bankcard Enhanced industry option (BC) will be lower than your baseline/classic score assuming you have some installment history on it to generate a score at all. Likewise we can theorize that lates on an auto loan might not hurt you as much as lates on a credit card as an example under a BC score, or a repossession might not hurt as much whereas a collection might hurt more. Tax liens as a further example might be the same on them all.

Beyond that we don't really know. If I pick up a FBNO card which provides an EX '08 BC score I may go do some testing for giggles, but realistically I don't really track it. For me the freebie FICO scores that I have access to are enough to give me a benchmark of how I'm doing, and beyond that I just focus on the report data on the assumption that a pretty report (or at least one with enough lipstick on it in my case haha) will result in a pretty score regardless of algorithm chosen.

Re: Experian score range

takeshi74 — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:00:22 GMT

@Jamielei24 wrote:
I get that's its really hard to figure out fico scoring. However my question is this: should I be pulling my experian report say once a month through myfico? If so is there a way to determine how it becomes "enhanced" from the score I get off myfico since the scale is higher? Or is that really the million dollar question?

It's not just that it's "really hard to figure out". There are a large number of different FICO models in use. "Enhanced" is a different model hence the different scale.

Whether you pull your FICO's is your call to make. I've never done so. I get a TU FICO from Discover but that's it and I have only recently added Discover to my wallet. I pay attention to the items on my reports and consider the factors that go into FICO scoring. You really don't need to fixate on the exact numbers to build and maintain credit.

Re: Experian score range

Jamielei24 — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 16:11:52 GMT

Haha thanks for your answers. It's really all foreign to me. I have just been so protective of my credit score since I had 2 lates last jan'13. It's taken a year to get back to where I was. I had 50/50 success rate of gw the lates. I have cleaned all CRA of any old baddies that should have been gone or settled years ago. Just have inquiries from my car purchase last May. I have paid down a ton of credit card debt (single mom going through nursing school) and had great luck with CLI earlier this month so I am hoping those start reporting to show even more of a decrease in utilization.

thanks to everyone on the forum that helps with my paranoia