Credit Score Confusion

[Anonymous]

I am in the process of rebuilding my credit.  I went from the low 500's due to bankruptcy and other issues, to now.......well, I'm not exactly sure.  I have purchased monitoring from all 3 bureaus.  None of the scores sync up to the other bureaus. 

Equifax (3 bureau report/score):  EQ:547, EX: 555, TU: 515

Experian (3 bureau report/score):  EQ: 596, EX: 609, TU: 590  (I hope this one is right...LOL)

TransUnion (3 bureau report/score):  EQ: 550, EX: 549, TU: 556

How do I know what's right?  Trying to hit 600 to qualify for renting a house by the end of August.  I have paid all but 2 collection debts.  Most have been removed from my report completely.  I now have 4 credit cards that I pay religiously and on time.  I haven't had a late payment on anything in almost a year.  Something isn't right.

Any info for understanding would be greatly appreciated.

[calyx]

Your score is based on three things: 

1)  The bureau where they are getting your information,

2) the date that the information is pulled, and

3)  the algorithm used to generate the score.

Your EX report uses FICO8,   I believe that Equifax uses its own algorithm, but I'm unsure of Transunion.

[Anonymous]

I believe that TransUnion and Equifax use their own scoring models. Experian uses FICO8. I'm sure someone with more knowledge of this can chime in, but I believe that is the reason for the difference in scores. 

[calyx]

Found this on the TU page:

"What you need to know

There are various types of credit scores, and lenders use a variety of different types of credit scores to make lending decisions. The credit score you receive is based on the VantageScore 3.0 model and may not be the credit score model used by your lender. "

The one way I can think that you can check to see if TU is using the VS model is to check CreditKarma - they use the Vantage model, so if your TU and EQ score are close, then it's probably Vantage.

Your scores from EX are going to be the ones most likely used for most lending (not auto or mortgage).

[Anonymous]

From TransUnion's Credit Monitoring Page:

Your TransUnion Score & Report are available as part of our subscription credit monitoring service. You will be billed at the low monthly cost of $19.95 per month (plus tax where applicable).

Stick to your Experian Credit Monitoring for actual FICO8 scores.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the info.  Yes, I paid for the subscription for each bureau for monitoring.  I may cancel them all.  They are trials.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am in the process of rebuilding my credit.  I went from the low 500's due to bankruptcy and other issues, to now.......well, I'm not exactly sure.  I have purchased monitoring from all 3 bureaus.  None of the scores sync up to the other bureaus. 

Equifax (3 bureau report/score):  EQ:547, EX: 555, TU: 515

Experian (3 bureau report/score):  EQ: 596, EX: 609, TU: 590  (I hope this one is right...LOL)

TransUnion (3 bureau report/score):  EQ: 550, EX: 549, TU: 556

How do I know what's right?  Trying to hit 600 to qualify for renting a house by the end of August.  I have paid all but 2 collection debts.  Most have been removed from my report completely.  I now have 4 credit cards that I pay religiously and on time.  I haven't had a late payment on anything in almost a year.  Something isn't right.

Any info for understanding would be greatly appreciated.

---

The only way I know of to be on top of your 3 mortgage scores is to get a 3-B report here at myfico.com.

You can monitor your EX FICO 2 score on a daily basis with Experian's Credit Watch service (not Credit Watch premium and not Credit Watch basic... just plain vanilla Credit Watch).

I don't know what you're getting from Equifax and Transunion but it's probably not the real mortgage score information you need right now.

It will help your mortgage scores to have 3 of your 4 cards report a zero balance, while the other card reports a small balance which you immediately pay off after the statement.

[Trudy]

Shawn6359,

I encourage you to ask which score needs to be 600 and which bureau they pull your score from.  I think clearly explained here is that there's a Vantage Score and there are FICO scores. "Scores" being key here.

It is likely they don't care about your Vantage scores but you may want to clarify.  When it comes to FICO scores there's FICO 8, FICO 9 and several other versions (1 of each for each bureau = 28 different FICO scores).  I'ts probably unlikely they will use the industry FICO versions (auto or bankcard).  So you should be clear on which FICO score version they are reviewing (FICO 8, FICO 9, etc).  Then question which bureau. 

Not sure which model is typically used for rental applications (Vantage or FICO), and if FICO, which version.  They may do as MTG lenders do, use the FICO 5, 4 and 2 (which represents the "MTG" version for all 3 bureaus) and take the middle score.  But some lenders or maybe renters in your case use only 1 of many FICO versions and only 'that one' from only 1 of the bureaus (EQ, TU, EX). 

Would hate for you to see a 600+ score on one version and/or from one of the bureau's and they use a different version and a different bureau. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and insight. Much appreciation.

[Anonymous]

I did what you suggested and pulled my scores from myfico.com. This is more like it. Thanks for responding.

Fico 8 - EQ: 596, TU: 590, EX: 609
Mortgage: EQ: 572, TU: 609, EX: 600