High discrepancy on credit scores

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm new to this site. Apologies if this question has already been posted. 

To start off, there's a high discrepency in my credit scores. A few months back, I got my score from Experian and they said it was 732. Up until now I always thought my score was around there since Discover says my score is a 740 currently (and according to them they get their data from TransUnion). But then I decided to check my free score with a Chase bank account (I do my personal banking through the phone) and my score according to them is a 660. So curious me decided to pay the 20 or so bucks to check my TransUnion score and indeed it is a 660.

Needless to say, my heart sunk. How is it possible to have an 80 point difference? I'm not so worried about possible identify theft because I have my SSN on fraud alert to make it more difficult to open credit lines behind my back. 

A little bit of background about myself: I'm 23 and graduated college about a year ago. I'm currently working and like some other people my age, I'm paying some student debt. It is nothing crazy like those horror stories you hear ($900/month and such stories). Checking what's hurting my score, they say (Chase, TransUnion and Discover) the age of my accounts are too low. Chase and TransUnion are also saying that "the balance amount paid down on your open installament accounts is too low" which I presumed they mean my student debt. Does student debt hurt your score? I was always under the impression that paying everything on time would actually help your score. 

I'm a little confused on what is going on here, your advice would be much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure the score provided by Chase is of the VS 3.0 variety.  It's not a FICO score. 

The score you're getting from Discover is a genuine TU FICO 08 score and is very meaningful.

Experian scores can be either FICO or VS 3.0, so if I were you I'd read the fine print on the screen where you're seeing the score to determine what scoring model is being used.  Since that score is pretty close to your TU FICO 08 score, it's likely that it's your EX FICO 08 score, but you can't be sure until you check.

FICO scores are all that matter, so don't sweat the lower score from Chase, as it's a score that no lender would ever use in a lending decision.

[Anonymous]

Thanksfor the quick reply!

I decided to double-check and in the fine print it says "Vantage Score 3.0" for Chase

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous

I decided to double-check and in the fine print it says "Vantage Score 3.0" for Chase

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Yup, I was pretty certain about that.  What about the score you're getting from Experian?

[Anonymous]

What did you pay $20 for in your post? The Experian score is probably FICO8, I have had Credit Works for over a year now and I didn't even know Experian offers VS 3.0.

[Anonymous]

Discover also offers free EX FICO8 scores at creditscorecard.com. It's free to anyone, only updates once a month. For me it actually updates more reliably than Discover card TU FICO8 does.

[Sloedough]

Chase's Credit Journey is a TU VS3 score. Totally FAKO, with no other information. They only offer a FICO8 score to Slate card holders. You can get the same thing with more information from CK. If you want a daily VS3 score, head over to wallethub.com.

In my experience the VS3 model starts breaking down around 650-750, but this is pure speculation based on my personal data points. The Discover Score Card is a EX FICO8 score.

[Anonymous]

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@SloedoughThe Discover Score Card is a EX FICO8 score. Typically EX is your low score, so it is a good indicator of your median score.

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Why do you say that typically EX is your low score?

[Sloedough]

EX usually sees more activity.

That's what my Mortgage guy told me. He told me that EX is usually low and EQ is usually high, so it is important to focus on your TU score because it represent's the median.

This might be due to my area too. Most banks around Colorado pull from EX.

[Anonymous]

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@Sloedough wrote:

EX usually sees more activity.

That's what my Mortgage guy told me. He told me that EX is usually low and EQ is usually high, so it is important to focus on your TU score because it represent's the median.

This might be due to my area too. Most banks around Colorado pull from EX.

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Hi Sloedough.  Your mortgage lender is mistaken.  There is no particular reason for one credit bureau to be higher for most people than another.  It's odd that so many mortgage lenders, loan officers, reps at CC issuers, and so on will say with confidence completely untrue things about credit reports and scoring -- but it belongs to the amazing but true side of life.

What will indeed cause one score to be higher than another is the data that are on that report (at the moment it is pulled).   What lates are on the report, what accounts, etc.  If you take a guy at random, there is no particlar reason one bureau will look better than another.

The best advice for a person planning to buy a house is to clean up his reports as much as possible, then pull his mortgage scores here -- and then see what his particular middle score is.  That could just as easily be TU, EQ, or EX -- depending on what is in that guy's reports.

PS.  There is also a weird corner case where a person has exactly the same data on all three reports and has an otherwise perfect profile -- in that case Experian will tend to have the highest score and EQ the lowest, since the three mortgage scores have a different top level range.