myFICO scores do not match scores from Credit Agencies

[Anonymous]

I pulled my 3 credit reports today and none of them match the scores displayed on the myFICO website.  That's odd, as the point is to be able to monitor my scores.  But if the scores on myFICO are not the real numbers, what's the point?  Why would they be different?

Between the 3 reports, there about a 20-point difference.  myFICO is not showing a score within any of the ranges, and actually the myFICO score is about 20 points lower than the lowest actual score.  Why woudl that be?

[Anonymous]

Only the scores from MyFico are real. The other scores are what we call FAKO's

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I pulled my 3 credit reports today and none of them match the scores displayed on the myFICO website.  That's odd, as the point is to be able to monitor my scores.  But if the scores on myFICO are not the real numbers, what's the point?  Why would they be different?

Between the 3 reports, there about a 20-point difference.  myFICO is not showing a score within any of the ranges, and actually the myFICO score is about 20 points lower than the lowest actual score.  Why woudl that be?

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The score you pulled directly from EQ should have matched if pulled the same day. EQ and Fair Isaac have a biz relationship.

As mentioned, both TU and EX sell their own "score" and has no relationship to FICO. If fact, lenders don't even use those scores. We call them FAKO scores or fake scores.

The scores pulled via this site will never match. Not all the data is the same on all three reports and the formula is different on all 3.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I pulled my 3 credit reports today and none of them match the scores displayed on the myFICO website.  That's odd, as the point is to be able to monitor my scores.  But if the scores on myFICO are not the real numbers, what's the point?  Why would they be different?

Between the 3 reports, there about a 20-point difference.  myFICO is not showing a score within any of the ranges, and actually the myFICO score is about 20 points lower than the lowest actual score.  Why woudl that be?

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myficos are (apparently) mortgage-enhanced scores, anyway....... so what you pay for at myfico is not necessarily going to be what your bank-enhanced or your auto-enhanced score will be.  Also, what appears on your actual myfico report isn't necessarily what your lender is going to see when they pull up your credit report in order to make a decision.

if I may ask, why are you monitoring your scores?  do you have a goal in mind, or curiosity?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies, I appreicate everyone taking the time to respond. 

I'm just curious about the scores because no matter what I do, it seems that no two companies end up with the same score eventhough they all pull from the same company, say Experian.  I have researched how the scores work and I have even wrote a few simple programs to see if I could estimate my own score.  But it seems that every company, bank, etc. that pulls the scores has some way to tweak the scores to end up with a unique result.  Maybe a mortgage company will ignore... say old medical debt, or an autoloan company might ignore something different and old auto loans have a greater effect on the score.

What through me here is that I am looking to buy some commerical property and I pulled my credit score through myFico before I put up $2500 in good faith money, $1800 survey, $250 attorney's fee for the sales contract, $850 for the appraisal, etc., etc.  But it seems that doing so via myFico is actually a pretty usless thing to do, as the scores do not seem to match anything that a bank or mortgage company would use anyway.  

I also have track my score via my bank and I recently purchased a new vehicle and recieved scores from them as well.  The difference between the scores was WAY outside the difference between the three reporting agency.  The highest score I had was through Toyota Financing at an 833.  The lowest I had was through my bank at 690 something. 

If the scores are they far off, what is the point in tracking them?  It doesn't seem like tracking them does any good.  Maybe just pulling my credit for free once a year to make sure there are no errors is the best thing.  Why pay $10 to $20 per month to monitor it when the monitoring companies cannot really tell you the score anyway?  Even myFico isn't reporing a score that my bank, mortgage company, or the auto finance company used.  myFico isn't even reporting a score that is anywhere close.  The bank, auto, or mortgage company all said that they pull from a given credit reporting agency and none of those scores match the score from the same company that myFico has listed.  So the other companies are not reporting an average, a score from another credit reporting agency, etc.  I'm looking at Experian from the Bank, mortage company, and the auto company.  Then comparing that to Experian from myFico.  I'm looking at Equifax from the bank, mortgage, and auto company, then comparing that to myFico.  myFico reported a 720 on one, the auto company reported an 833. 

So in the end, it looks like monitoring your score is pretty useless.  Maybe just monitoring it one a year for errors is the best thing to do.      

Any thoughts?

Best regards,

Jon

[Anonymous]

I'm not real good on the different scores and how scoring works, but I'll give it a stab.

There are different types of scores for different purposes.

There is the auto-enhanced score that scores you report, placing more emphasis on past auto loans.

There is the bankcard-enhanced score(think it actually has a different name) that scores your report, placing more emphasis on past CC accounts.

There are also different models that can be used to retrieve the score.

There are also, what we here call, FAKO scores.

If your score doesn't state "FICO" and have the FICO symbol and the same range for FICO scores, it isn't a FICO.

Depending on who pulled your scores and why is what score you'll get.

I had a creditor pull mine and was identical to the one I got here.

The only other suggestion I have for you is to search/read/post over on the Understanding FICO Scoring forum.

Message Edited by sidewinder on 10-27-2008 09:41 AM

[llecs]

Thanks for posting back.

Here's a recap on scores (and by all means check out credit scoring 101):

The scores you pull from EX and TU directly from EX and TU are not FICO scores, but fake or FAKO scores. The EQ score as pulled from EQ is a true FICO score and matches what you pull in here. And this is the only site out there that offers all 3 FICO scores.

Each industry also has their own scoring method. For example, many lenders within the CC industry will use a CC-enhanced score. This is not a true FICO score. Maybe elements were designed by Fair Isaac with some lenders, but the CC industry will weigh your history, usage, utilization, etc. much more stronger than a mortgage lender would. The lender wants to know how you are doing w/ CCs. There is one way to tell your CC-enhanced for TU and that is through a PFICO score currently offered via WAMU.

Auto-enhanced scores are the same way with the enhanced scoring. The FICO score you get from here won't match the score pulled from an auto lender. That lender uses a different formula and follows your history of car loans more than any other item on your credit report, relatively speaking.

Finally, a majority of mortgage lenders use the FICO scores as found from this site. I say a majority because a tiny percentage don't use FICOs at all but rather a VantageScore as developed by each CRA. But the FICO scores for EX and EQ should match if pulled on the same day. The only differential might be with TU in that some lenders will use a TU98 version and others the '04 version.

When you pulled from here, OP, and from the mortgage lender, what was the score difference and how far apart (time-wise) did you pull these two scores?

I too tried to create my own formula to match FICO's. Impossible. FICO uses buckets and compares your score to everyone else's and you'd need everyone's score to create you own score. And the formula isn't linear. You won't get x-points for a baddie or late. The law of diminishing returns comes into play where the damage becomes less as you suffer more of the damage. For example, you may have 60 points for a new 30 day late. Well, if you have 8 new 30-day lates, you won't take a 240 point hit.

Edit to correct my bad math.

Message Edited by llecs on 10-27-2008 11:18 AM

Message Edited by llecs on 11-26-2008 03:38 PM

[Anonymous]

i think myfico should make all models of scores avialible to public for a fee and lenders use them only.

no more fakos if i pay 15.95 for a score i want it to be the same one that my lender sees .

also why are lenders so against us see the exact score they use .

its because they dont want you to know they deneid you @640  and approved your neighbor@630

they are not suppose to do that but it happens

                                                                     thanks 

[llecs]

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louiep132 wrote:

its because they dont want you to know they deneid you @640  and approved your neighbor@630

they are not suppose to do that but it happens

                                                                     thanks 

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When I first started to rebuild my credit I felt the same way. I would compare my scores with others and see people getting new CCs, for example, with scores in the upper 500s/low 600s and I would apply for the exact same CCs at the same time with higher scores, in some cases, and get denied. It would always make me mad. But I found that if a lender does use a scoring system, even if FICO based, that lender also has the discretion to manually evaluate, without a score, the credit worthiness of a potential customer.

In other words, if you apply for a new mortgage and get approved at a decent rate and I app for the exact same mortgage and get denied with a higher score, the lender may be looking at the severity of the baddies and is making a decision on that. If I had a 800 score last month but had 1 new CA added dropping my score to 700 this month and you app with a 699 and have no recent baddies, then the lender is making a decision that your credit is more stable than mine and my recent CA could be a trend.

Also consider that your income, employment history, assets, liabilities, etc all may be working for or against you aside from your score when applying.

[Anonymous]

On my wamu credit card site it gives me my "Bankcard FICO score provided by: TransUnion " 828.

I pulled one of my annual credit reports today and paid for what I thought was going to be my FICO score from Experian and was surprised to have "VantageScore" 879 (scale 501--990). 

The VantageScore is quite a bit lower on their scale than my Bankcard FICO score is.

Is the Bankcard FICO the cc rating that I just learned about here?  And, is the VantageScore number from pulling my report based on my entire report?

What is the range for FICO--350--850?

I also noticed that everything on my credit report under Status Details:  This account is scheduled to continue on record until...with a 10 year date.  I thought everything was 7 years?

Message Edited by echo384 on 10-29-2008 03:13 PM