Descrepancy between Bank Score and myFICO score?

[astrobuckeye]

So I applied for a credit card today.  Not the best action as far as improving my score I guess but I only have department store credit cards.  Anyway the lady at the CU said I would need to bring in paystubs to verify my income because of my credit score.  Which I thought was odd because I just bought auto insurance and was told my credit score was good for someone my age.  She left the room to double check with her manager and so I leaned across the desk to see the score, it was Equifax reporting a 663.  So I came home and bought a myFICO score to see if anything has hit my credit and I got scores of 720, 731, and 735.  WTF?

[haulingthescoreup]

They might be using what is called a credit-card-enhanced score. This is a specialized type of FICO score, meant to better predict consumer behavior with credit cards. There's also an auto-enhanced score. Beyond that, there's something called Next Gen and a couple of others, and there's always the semi-mythical FICO 08.

I'm surprised that it's so much lower than your "classic" score, the one you buy here. I'd ask which model they're pulling.

The EQ score here is the Beacon 5.0.

[astrobuckeye]

Thanks, I didn't realize there were different methods.  I'll have to ask.  Because I'm hoping to apply for a mortgage in the spring.  And I was hoping to go through the CU.  I'm a little bummed cause I don't think I'll be able to bring up my credit score much in the mean time because my biggest hit is the fact my accounts are young, I waited til I was 20 to get my first credit card and am now 23. 

[haulingthescoreup]

Well, the scores that you pull here are what are used for mortgage apps by almost all lenders. They are the so-called "classic" scores. The TU score here is from an older model, so that one might vary, but the EQ and EX scores are the most popular versions out there. It's possible that your CU does something differently, though.

I would definitely ask them what they pull, both for CC's and for mortgages. It's certainly a reasonable thing for a consumer to want to know.

Congrats on being this far down the road at this point in your life! Getting a CC or two will help you when it's app time. The conventional wisdom is to not apply for anything within six months within a mortgage app, but if you're in catch-up mode, you do what you've gotta do. I'd definitely take that shiny EX score and apply with Bank of America as well, and then settle back.

There's a built-in forgiveness for the usual new-credit penalty for those like you with very young histories, unlike for those who have been around for a while and ought to know better.


edit: whoops, lost a word.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-13-2009 04:06 PM

[astrobuckeye]

Thanks so much for the advice.  I'll definitely look into getting another CC.  I guess if my CU pulls some weird score I can always go with another lender.  Plus I'll have a stellar DtI ratio.