Thanks for sharing your story; it’s incredibly helpful for others navigating the system without an SSN. You’ve clearly put in a lot of effort to track and monitor your scores manually; and that level of discipline is impressive. It makes total sense how frustrating it must be to have limited access to tools like CreditWise or MyCredit Guide; especially when you’re already doing everything right.
That TransUnion lag is definitely a hurdle; and you’re not alone in that. Many lenders do rely heavily on TU; and a thinner or slower-developing file there can trigger adverse action; as you saw with the Venture X pre-approval. Your scores with Experian and Equifax are solid; and that gives you some good leverage with lenders who pull those bureaus.
It might help to focus new applications toward issuers known for using Experian or Equifax; and continue building TU slowly over time. You might also consider reaching out to lenders directly before applying to ask which bureau they use. There are also some community-built lists on which issuers pull which bureau by state; worth checking out on here or Reddit.
You’re clearly putting in the work; and it shows. Keep tracking your progress and don’t let one bureau define your momentum; you’re doing great.
@MisterFico wrote:As somebody without an SSN, it is difficult to monitor my progress and FICO scores and I can't do it as well as the average person. The main difficulty is that without an SSN, all the main credit monitoring options that most people have aren't open to me. For example, Capital One lets its customers use CreditWise, and American Express customers have MyCredit Guide. I'm a customer of both, but I can't use either one of them. I've tried several times, and always get the same thing: no SSN = doesn't work.
I've managed to piece together a bit of a picture of how things have been going over the last year or so, when I first noticed my Equifax score on a credit card statement. I keep a little log of when I get these snapshots. A few days ago, for the first time, I got a Transunion snapshot. It is lagging behind Experian and Equifax.
My most recent snapshots for each of the three are:
Transunion - 711 - 07/31
Experian - 768 - 06/29
Equifax - 751 - 01/28
I got that Transunion score in an adverse action letter, in a failed pre-approval for the Venture X. It said "Here are the reasons why we couldn't match you with an offer:
• Based on your credit report from one or more of the agencies on the back of this letter, length of
history at reporting agency is too short"
So it seems like Transunion is what could stump me in applications over the next couple of years...Could anybody recommend a guide on what bureaus are used by the major financial institutions please?
the TU score given to you by Cap1 is likely a FICO mortgage score and those scores are often much lower compared to FICO 8/9
without knowing which scores you found, it's impossible to know what your credit is looking like right now in terms of score
@MisterFico wrote:
@GZG wrote:the TU score given to you by Cap1 is likely a FICO mortgage score and those scores are often much lower compared to FICO 8/9
without knowing which scores you found, it's impossible to know what your credit is looking like right now in terms of score
Thank you, but unfortunately I've scrutinized the correspondence I got those scores from and none of them are precise or specific about exactly what they are; they only quote the name of the bureau in each case.
What you said about a FICO mortgage score is intriguing, but just just to clarify I don't have any mortgage, nor any auto or other loan accounts. In the US I only have credit cards and a checking account.
Could be TU FICO4. Older scores are often used for mortgage scoring, but they are not restricted to only being used for mortgages. As I mentioned in one of your other threads, Capital one has been known for using very old scoring models for credit card applications rather than today's more prevalent FICO8 and FICO9.
I feel your pain as a fellow ITIN-holder. Hope in the future the bureaus will update their outdated technology to include options for ITIN-holders - but we will see.
@MisterFico wrote:
@GZG wrote:the TU score given to you by Cap1 is likely a FICO mortgage score and those scores are often much lower compared to FICO 8/9
without knowing which scores you found, it's impossible to know what your credit is looking like right now in terms of score
Thank you, but unfortunately I've scrutinized the correspondence I got those scores from and none of them are precise or specific about exactly what they are; they only quote the name of the bureau in each case.
What you said about a FICO mortgage score is intriguing, but just just to clarify I don't have any mortgage, nor any auto or other loan accounts. In the US I only have credit cards and a checking account.
you don't need a mortgage to have a FICO mortgage score, just like you don't need a credit card to have a 'bankcard' score and you don't need an auto loan to have an 'auto loan' score
there's a bunch of different varieties of FICO scores: 8/9/10, bankcard, auto, mortgage and each of them calculates score differently
with FICO 8/9/10, you have really mess up to lower your score, but with the mortgage scores, not being 40 years old with a 20 year old credit history is enough to lose 50 points, it's not unusual for a FICO mortgage score to be 50+ points lower than FICO 8/9/10 and most of the other FICO scores
does myFICO require a SSN to see all of your scores? Paying the $40 to see all of your scores would help illuminate this a bunch