40 point drop within 10 days

[Anonymous]

Hi,

on December 07, I checked my scores on CreditCheckTotal and they were as following: 731 (Experian), 752 (TU), 740 (Equifax).

On December 18, I applied for a personal loan with a local bank. They pulled Equifax and reportedly the score was only 702. When I check CreditCheckTotal (like, even right now), my Experian Score remains 731. Nothing reported within those 10 days and nothing else happened, so I really don't know why the reported scores vary so significantly.

Do you have any idea? This doesn't even make sense.

(And yes, Fako, yes, VantageScore Model, but even CreditKarma doesn't report such a low score for Equifax, even after the HP...)

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

on December 07, I checked my scores on CreditCheckTotal and they were as following: 731 (Experian), 752 (TU), 740 (Equifax).

On December 18, I applied for a personal loan with a local bank. They pulled Equifax and reportedly the score was only 702. When I check CreditCheckTotal (like, even right now), my Experian Score remains 731. Nothing reported within those 10 days and nothing else happened, so I really don't know why the reported scores vary so significantly.

Do you have any idea? This doesn't even make sense.

(And yes, Fako, yes, VantageScore Model, but even CreditKarma doesn't report such a low score for Equifax, even after the HP...)

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They pulled Equifax?  Or Experian?  You're using both terms in your post and trying to compare the two.

Credit Check Total shows you only FICO Score 8 but there are many different "flavors" or versions of FICO.  Ask the lender which version of FICO they use.

[Anonymous]

They pulled Equifax. The Equifax score differed by 40 points.

I mentioned the Experian just to show that there was no major change for the Experian score within those 10 days. I don't have recent Equifax scores (I'm not gonna pay again to get new scores...Will have to wait unitl I get my regular update).

I understand that there are different models. But a 40 point difference? 

[Anonymous]

Yes, 40 point difference isn't unheard of between FICO Score 8 and FICO Score 2.  Some folks have reported 60, 70 point differences.

[marty56]

Also if you look at the 3 CRs, they may have different account info.  For example my EX has very old accounts that EQ and TU don't have.

[Anonymous]

So your action items are (a) to ask the bank what FICO scoring model they used and (b) to get your EQ FICO 8 score again. 

Action (a) is the most important.  As ABCD mentions, if the lender is using a model older than FICO 8 (or newer, like FICO 9) you could easily have a huge score difference.

[Anonymous]

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@marty56 wrote:

Also if you look at the 3 CRs, they may have different account info.  For example my EX has very old accounts that EQ and TU don't have.

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And even when the accounts appear identical between two CRAs, the CRA databases often get updated at different times (e.g. my Chase Freedom's balance might have been updated on Dec 10 at EX but not until Dec 13 at EQ).  A difference in balances on otherwise identical accounts can cause a big scoring difference.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

on December 07, I checked my scores on CreditCheckTotal and they were as following: 731 (Experian), 752 (TU), 740 (Equifax).

On December 18, I applied for a personal loan with a local bank. They pulled Equifax and reportedly the score was only 702. When I check CreditCheckTotal (like, even right now), my Experian Score remains 731. Nothing reported within those 10 days and nothing else happened, so I really don't know why the reported scores vary so significantly.

Do you have any idea? This doesn't even make sense.

(And yes, Fako, yes, VantageScore Model, but even CreditKarma doesn't report such a low score for Equifax, even after the HP...)

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As has been stated they are obviously using different versions of Fico. There is a 40 point difference between my Fico 8 and Fico 9 Experian score. Ask your bank what version they're using.

[arkane]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@marty56 wrote:

Also if you look at the 3 CRs, they may have different account info.  For example my EX has very old accounts that EQ and TU don't have.

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And even when the accounts appear identical between two CRAs, the CRA databases often get updated at different times (e.g. my Chase Freedom's balance might have been updated on Dec 10 at EX but not until Dec 13 at EQ).  A difference in balances on otherwise identical accounts can cause a big scoring difference.

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In my limited experience it appears TU is consistently the slowest to update, typically lagging a week (~5 business days) behind the other two CRAs.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

on December 07, I checked my scores on CreditCheckTotal and they were as following: 731 (Experian), 752 (TU), 740 (Equifax).

On December 18, I applied for a personal loan with a local bank. They pulled Equifax and reportedly the score was only 702. When I check CreditCheckTotal (like, even right now), my Experian Score remains 731. Nothing reported within those 10 days and nothing else happened, so I really don't know why the reported scores vary so significantly.

Do you have any idea? This doesn't even make sense.

(And yes, Fako, yes, VantageScore Model, but even CreditKarma doesn't report such a low score for Equifax, even after the HP...)

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Highly doubtful the score difference relates to timing. High probability the EQ score difference is associated with the bank reporting a score for a different version of EQ Fico. My EQ Fico 04 (referred to as EQ score 5) is typically 41 to 46 points below my EQ Fico 8 score. I can cause my EQ Fico 04 to drop 86 points my EQ Fico 8 just by allowing all cards to report small balances