Credit score went down on a diffrent site but not here?

[dekelley1]

My bank offers me my transunion score and updates when there is a change to my score of 20pts or more.  Well on the bank website my score dropped 30pts, but has not changed on here.  How do I know which one to trust?  and why is there such a diffrence?

---Thanks

[Anonymous]

This question gets asked a hundred thousand times each week.  Please read some of the many posts on this subject.

 You fell into the trap that many credit rookies fall into.  That is believing that the credit bureaus have your best interests at heat regarding credit scoring.

The only score that matters will always explicitly say FICO.  All others, including the "transrisk" score you reference, are FAKE FAKE FAKE.  They are worthless and useless.

 Again, please do some reading on this site.  This is a pretty basic question.

[dekelley1]

Thanks, I will be sure to read more next time.

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums!

OP, I know how you feel. I felt the same way when I started looking into all of these scores. I was always misinformed by friends and family that there is only one credit score with that being a "FICO" score. It wasn't until I began to study credit that I found that other CRAs, lenders, etc. are all trying to make money and sell credit scores too. What it didn't realize was that these other companies try to emulate and compete with their own product. We call these FAKO scores.

The only places that consumers can get a FICO score for EQ is via this website or directly from EQ, as they have a partnership with Fair Isaac. You can also get your TU score from either here or from transunioncs.com (note the -cs). Sadly, EX no longer allows consumers to get their FICO score. Any other scores pulled elsewhere are not FICO scores. These FAKO scores aren't used by lenders and are poor predictors of a FICO score. You can get these other scores from credit monitoring services like CreditExpert, CreditKarma, Freecreditreport.com (and their annoying jingle), Experian.com, Transunion.com, VantageScore, PrivacyAssist, PrivacyMatters, and dozens of other places. Moreover, if you were to pull your TU score from Transunion and FreeCreditReport, your scores won't match. They won't match because there are several dozen different formulas and variations. Thankfully, lenders don't use these other scores. We often tell people to ignore them.

Thankfully you had a 30 point drop on the other socring site rather than a 30 point drop in your FICO score. Your example illustrates the differences in scoring formulas.

[Anonymous]

hey there, dek. Welcome to the site.

There is a whole cottage industry out there selling credit scores. IMO, the ONLY score that counts is the one your creditor uses. Of course, most, if not all, creditors, use FICO scores. But, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

When you go to buy or lease a car, the dealer will probably use an enhanced FICO scores which places greater weight on your history of financing cars than, say, credit cards. Same thing if your looking for a mortgage.

This past may I was looking to lease a car - and pulled all 3 of my scores before visiting any dealer. The Experian score the Lexxus dealer pulled was close to 20 points lower than the Experian score I pulled from MYFICO.

Yeah, FICO scores (scores obtained here) are widely used, but in the end, it's the score your particular lender uses that counts. So, if you're looking to finance something, ask the creditor which bureau they pull from. That is something you want to know up front.

Incidentally, I did lease the Lexxus but through a credit union, not through the dealer.

[dekelley1]

Thanks for all the information, I appreciate it. 

---

@Anonymous wrote:

hey there, dek. Welcome to the site.

There is a whole cottage industry out there selling credit scores. IMO, the ONLY score that counts is the one your creditor uses. Of course, most, if not all, creditors, use FICO scores. But, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

When you go to buy or lease a car, the dealer will probably use an enhanced FICO scores which places greater weight on your history of financing cars than, say, credit cards. Same thing if your looking for a mortgage.

This past may I was looking to lease a car - and pulled all 3 of my scores before visiting any dealer. The Experian score the Lexxus dealer pulled was close to 20 points lower than the Experian score I pulled from MYFICO.

Yeah, FICO scores (scores obtained here) are widely used, but in the end, it's the score your particular lender uses that counts. So, if you're looking to finance something, ask the creditor which bureau they pull from. That is something you want to know up front.

Incidentally, I did lease the Lexxus but through a credit union, not through the dealer.

---

---

@Anonymous wrote:

hey there, dek. Welcome to the site.

There is a whole cottage industry out there selling credit scores. IMO, the ONLY score that counts is the one your creditor uses. Of course, most, if not all, creditors, use FICO scores. But, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

When you go to buy or lease a car, the dealer will probably use an enhanced FICO scores which places greater weight on your history of financing cars than, say, credit cards. Same thing if your looking for a mortgage.

This past may I was looking to lease a car - and pulled all 3 of my scores before visiting any dealer. The Experian score the Lexxus dealer pulled was close to 20 points lower than the Experian score I pulled from MYFICO.

Yeah, FICO scores (scores obtained here) are widely used, but in the end, it's the score your particular lender uses that counts. So, if you're looking to finance something, ask the creditor which bureau they pull from. That is something you want to know up front.

Incidentally, I did lease the Lexxus but through a credit union, not through the dealer.

---

[Anonymous]

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@dekelley1 wrote:

My bank offers me my transunion score and updates when there is a change to my score of 20pts or more.  Well on the bank website my score dropped 30pts, but has not changed on here.  How do I know which one to trust?  and why is there such a diffrence?

---Thanks

---

Which bank?

(It's possible the OP is talking about WaMu's PFICO score ... )

[dekelley1]

Thats right, I am talking about Wamu's website for cc holders.  Is there something you know that I don't?

[Anonymous]

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@dekelley1 wrote:
Thats right, I am talking about Wamu's website for cc holders.  Is there something you know that I don't?

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The score offered on the WaMu site is referred to as a PFICO score. It is based on a formula created by Fair Isaac, so it is one of the many FICO scoring models. The PFICO score is a bankcard-enhanced score, meaning that credit card-related elements of your credit report are emphasized more. What probably happened was you had certain changes occur in your credit report that were negatively related to credit card accounts. These changes could include the addition of new CC inquiries, the addition of new CC accounts, an increase in the number of CC accounts reporting a balance, etc. and may have caused a more drastic drop in the bankcard-enhanced score than in the "classic" score ... 

[dekelley1]

Well when WAMU was harshly taken over by JP morgan they closed my secured CC I had with them.  So that may be what happened.