Why such discrepancy between 2 scores?

[Anonymous]

In a different topic I explained how at age 40, I've only had 1 CC (opened 2 yrs ago). I was raised to only spend if you NEEDED the item and had the cash to pay for it. So I've taken that and now treat my CC as a debit card (and hope to always do that).

I've had a secured Discover that transitioned to a regular CC after 6 months. Card has been open 2 yrs.  Score is 720TU.

Just applied for a BOA Cash Rewards (I have a tiny checking account with them anyway), and got my Experian score in the mail with the card..it said it was 835!? 

I was pleasantly shocked to see such a high score, but am wary because it's SOOOO much higher than my TU.

Could this be accurate?

I have:

-2 student loans from 15 yrs ago that I paid while I could, but are in forbearance now

- cheap car lease

-1 CapOne CC my mom opened last yr without telling me (she wanted to help my score..but didn't tell me she was doing this. Sometimes she puts $5 on it and then pays it off, but I know nothing else about it. Will find out soon)

[Trudy]

What is the score model for the 720 and 835?

[K-in-Boston]

The 720 TU score is definitely FICO 8 if you are getting that from your Discover account.  For the Experian score, did it state which model was used?  (BOA typically uses FICO 8, but if it was a FICO 8 Bankcard score, those go to 900 instead of 850 and weigh criteria in different ways.)  You can get a free Experian FICO 8 score at creditscorecard.com from Discover just to double check that you're comparing the same scoring model.

I would also pull your credit reports from annualcreditreport.com and make sure that the information is identical between the 3 major credit reporting bureaus (if they are essentially the same, scores can still differ but nowhere near 115 points).

[Anonymous]

Eep, I'm newish to this, what do you mean by score model?

[Anonymous]

I don't think the paperwork that came with the BOA card, said.

But the FICO 8 info on my Discover app (which I check often) didn't register any inquiries after I opened the BOA last month..so can I assume it's the Bankcard and not regular FICO 8?

Right, the 100+ difference is throwing me off. I'm still newish at all this, but I know enough that there shouldn't be such a large discrepancy between the two.

Do I download each report, and compare side-by-side? I've only done this once before (embarrassingly) and I didn't know what to look for fully, back then.

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Eep, I'm newish to this, what do you mean by score model?

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In short, there are a number of different algorithms used to try to quantify your credit profile and history.

Some algorithms are tuned more toward a specific use case like mortgages, and often the algorithm is refined over time (FICO2 vs FICO5 vs FICO8 vs FICO9) but some issuers still use a older algorithm because they're comfortable with and continue to trust it.

Here's a great place to start.

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/infographic-what-are-the-different-scoring-ranges/

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I don't think the paperwork that came with the BOA card, said.

But the FICO 8 info on my Discover app (which I check often) didn't register any inquiries after I opened the BOA last month..so can I assume it's the Bankcard and not regular FICO 8?

Right, the 100+ difference is throwing me off. I'm still newish at all this, but I know enough that there shouldn't be such a large discrepancy between the two.

Do I download each report, and compare side-by-side? I've only done this once before (embarrassingly) and I didn't know what to look for fully, back then.

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That's never a bad move in any case.   Just start by looking to compare that everything on 1 report is also on the other and that the information reported is accurate.   If in fact the information being reported is complete and accurate don't get hung up on the scores or the score differential.