FICO discrepancies

[Anonymous]

I'm in the process of looking for a vehicle, and have been looking at used models but having trouble with financing, this is my first auto loan. I have 100% on time payments, 1 installment loan for $1500, 1 revolving credit line for $12,500 (both 2 months old) and have an authorized user credit card with a $21k limit opened 3 years ago. My Experian FICO shows a 705 (dropped from 733 from inquiries this weekend). But under my reports tab on Experian, my FICO for Transunion and Equifax says no score. I added the authorized user card last week, and it showed up on my Experian yesterday. When I applied at the dealership last night, they said i had a 699 FICO auto, but no scores for TU and Equifax and I would need a cosigner. However before the AU posted yesterday, I applied for a car 10k cheaper last week, and they wanted 5k down no cosigner. I am confused because I now have a stronger score and history with my $21k AU, why isn't a FICO score showing for TU and Equifax for another dealership?. The 2 dealers hit me with about 10 inquiries, so I just want to make sure i'm doing the right steps before applying anywhere else. My Credit Karma was updated today because of the inquiries, and shows 640 Equifax , 631 TU, but not the 21k limit AU that appeared on my Experian as of yesterday. Does the FICO for the TU and Equifax take a couple more days to show?

Thanks for the help

[thornback]

Your AU just reported to EX yesterday - so will likely show up on the other two bureaus over the next week or so (assuming the lender for the AU reports to all 3 bureaus).  The bureaus don't all update at the same time - they are separate entities. If TU and EQ only currently show your two 2-month old accounts, then that is why you don't have scores yet because it generally requires 6 months of credit history to generate FICO scores. 

Your AU may not make much of a difference when it comes to your auto loan approvals though - as oftentimes AU accounts are discounted when lenders are determining creditworthiness because you are not the primary cardholder and therefore, not responsible for the debt.  Your primary account history is still extremely short so dont be surprised if the rates quoted for a loan are on the higher end or if a cosigner is still required.  

Can you clarify:  you were approved for a loan last week with no FICO credit scores? 

Welcome to the forums!

[Slabenstein]

You need 6 mo's of recent credit history to generate a FICO score, so if your only tradelines are the 2 mo old installment, the 2 mo old revolver, and the AU card then it looks like EX is counting the AU line for that requirement and TU and EQ aren't.  Does the AU line show on your TU and EQ reports?  If the AU account only posted to EX yesterday, it may not have shown up on TU and EQ yet.  I can't speak to different dealer's internal practices and when they would or wouldn't need a cosigner, but if they're doing the shotgun method for your apps, the different loan requirements could partly be due to the loans having come from different lenders.  If you want to avoid piling up another big stack of inquiries, I'd recommend calling up your local credit unions, asking about rates, estimated montly payments, etc, and then getting a prequal from the one that's offering you the best deal.  That way you've got the financing you need available with maybe only one HP (and probably a better rate than anything the dealers are throwing at you) before you do any more car shopping.

[FinStar]

Hi @Anonymous and welcome to the forums.

Echoing what's mentioned above, an AU account is sometimes disregarded by a variety of lenders' algorithms as it's simply considered "piggybacking."   While it can offer an artificial means to boost scores and history, lenders are evaluating your primary lending history, especially with a variety of lenders who may have been recently shotgunned to determine financing options.