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Equifax FICO and Equifax Score

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R_W_
Valued Member

Re: Equifax FICO and Equifax Score

I recently paid off a car loan, waited a month and I pulled my Equifax FICO from myfico.com and it had dropped to 665.  I then went to equifax.com and pulled all 3.  My equifax score was 776 (my equifax.com TU and EX were 777 and 779 respectively).  That is a HUGE difference - 111 points! 

 

It is the difference in me getting a great interest rate on my refi and not qualifying at all.  So now I am torn about even applying for my refi and taking the hit for the credit pull, putting me further away from the 680 I need or just waiting for my score to slowly creep back up to over 680.  But I really would like to have the lower payment on my mortgage sooner rather than later.

 

I have scrutined both reports. All the details are the same except this car loan.  Myfico seems to be interpreting my car pay off as recent late pay (I was 30 days back in March of 2009) and equifax is seeing Paid, was past due 30 days.  I have tried 3 different disputes and can't seem to get it fixed, so my guess is that it is just a differnce in their scoringn formulas and there is no fixing it.  If my FICO is really what the lenders see then I don't have a chance of getting this refi.  My revolving credit Utilization is 1%, The worst delinquency I have is a 30 days late from over 3 years ago.  My credit history goes back to 1989... the 770's seem more in line with what I should expect for a credit score.... not a 665.  Dare I risk the credit pull to only be rejected?


Starting Score: EQ 740, EX 792 (lender pull), TU 772 (lender pull)
Current Score: EX 850, EQ 835, TU 755
Goal Score: all over 800


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

Message 11 of 29
MarineVietVet
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Equifax FICO and Equifax Score


@R_W_ wrote:

I recently paid off a car loan, waited a month and I pulled my Equifax FICO from myfico.com and it had dropped to 665.  I then went to equifax.com and pulled all 3.  My equifax score was 776 (my equifax.com TU and EX were 777 and 779 respectively).  That is a HUGE difference - 111 points! 

 

It is the difference in me getting a great interest rate on my refi and not qualifying at all.  So now I am torn about even applying for my refi and taking the hit for the credit pull, putting me further away from the 680 I need or just waiting for my score to slowly creep back up to over 680.  But I really would like to have the lower payment on my mortgage sooner rather than later.

 

I have scrutined both reports. All the details are the same except this car loan.  Myfico seems to be interpreting my car pay off as recent late pay (I was 30 days back in March of 2009) and equifax is seeing Paid, was past due 30 days.  I have tried 3 different disputes and can't seem to get it fixed, so my guess is that it is just a differnce in their scoringn formulas and there is no fixing it.  If my FICO is really what the lenders see then I don't have a chance of getting this refi.  My revolving credit Utilization is 1%, The worst delinquency I have is a 30 days late from over 3 years ago.  My credit history goes back to 1989... the 770's seem more in line with what I should expect for a credit score.... not a 665.  Dare I risk the credit pull to only be rejected?


You resurrected an almost 3 year old thread and that's ok but information that old is often outdated and/or incorrect.

 

The "scores" you get from the Equifax website may or may not be true EQ FICO scores. They also sell their own proprietary "Equifax Credit Score" which is not a FICO score and is not used by any lenders. It sounds like that is what you bought because there is no 3 in 1 monitoring service that sells all 3 FICO scores. So those scores in the 700's are not accurate.

 

The EQ score you buy here at myFICO is accurate. 

 

Equifax recently stopped selling the 4 FICO reports/yr product but it's still available as an affiliate link:
https://www.econsumer.equifax.com/otc/landing.ehtml?^start=&companyName=mtbk_esn3r

Message 12 of 29
R_W_
Valued Member

Re: Equifax FICO and Equifax Score

hmm.... well I see several of your members recommend USAA, so I tried that as well and that too has all 3 scores in the mid 700's.  I also ran my TransUnion on myFICO and it is in the mid 700's

 

It seems as though the only one that has the issue is myFICO and only the equifax.  The difference between that single score and all the others sees to be averaging 100Pts.  I have read through all sorts of the posts of these sites and that doesn't seem like a common problem... 40 points, yes....100+?  Not really....I feel as though there is something I should dispute, I just don't know what.  myFICO Equifax is showing this one account as a recent late payment, when it is obvious when you look at the payment history that there is only one late payment and it was back in March of 2009.

 

I tried the link below, but I don't think it takes me to what you intended.  It takes me to Equifax.com to a matrix where you can compare their 3 most popular products, one of which I already have purchased.  As I browse thei site, I do see that they offer score power, but isn't that what I have with myFICO?  I don't want to pay for something that I am already getting from your site.....


Starting Score: EQ 740, EX 792 (lender pull), TU 772 (lender pull)
Current Score: EX 850, EQ 835, TU 755
Goal Score: all over 800


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

Message 13 of 29
MarineVietVet
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Equifax FICO and Equifax Score


@R_W_ wrote:

hmm.... well I see several of your members recommend USAA, so I tried that as well and that too has all 3 scores in the mid 700's.  I also ran my TransUnion on myFICO and it is in the mid 700's

 

It seems as though the only one that has the issue is myFICO and only the equifax.  The difference between that single score and all the others sees to be averaging 100Pts.  I have read through all sorts of the posts of these sites and that doesn't seem like a common problem... 40 points, yes....100+?  Not really....I feel as though there is something I should dispute, I just don't know what.  myFICO Equifax is showing this one account as a recent late payment, when it is obvious when you look at the payment history that there is only one late payment and it was back in March of 2009.

 

I tried the link below, but I don't think it takes me to what you intended.  It takes me to Equifax.com to a matrix where you can compare their 3 most popular products, one of which I already have purchased.  As I browse thei site, I do see that they offer score power, but isn't that what I have with myFICO?  I don't want to pay for something that I am already getting from your site.....


Yes they are both the same version of Equifax (Beacon 5.0). Of all the places you list only myFICO offers true FICO scores. The version of TU sold here is TU98 which is an older version but the EQ score here is the same EQ score used by most lenders at this time.

 

Also even if all the information on all your reports is exactly the same (which is very rare) there will likely be differences because each CRA uses different scoring formulas to calculate a score. There is more than a 50 point spread across my 3 scores so it's not unusual at all.

Message 14 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Equifax FICO and Equifax Score

The EX score that I received from there is about 60 points lower than my EQ score here. My TU score ws purchased when I requested my report from them.  I've looked at so much credit info in the last few weeks. I don't remember where the EX score in my signiture came from. Will have to go through my folder. 

 

So in a nutshell, I guess it's safe to say that the scores that we receive here (myfico) are accurate and what lenders will see?

 

Message 15 of 29
maiden_girl
Valued Contributor

Re: Equifax FICO and Equifax Score

The credit scores purchased directly from TU, EXP, and EQ via website are called credit PLUS or FAKO scores. They are not a reflection of your true FICO scores (the scores lenders use). The FAKO scores are typically higher than your true score. There is no point in purchasing those scores as it does not give you a true picture of how lenders view you as a buyer. They even list it on their website in tiny tiny writing that the scores they sell are not the scores lenders use to determine your credit worthiness.

As of 2017, rebuilding...
Message 16 of 29
MarineVietVet
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Equifax FICO and Equifax Score


@maiden_girl wrote:

The credit scores purchased directly from TU, EXP, and EQ via website are called credit PLUS or FAKO scores. They are not a reflection of your true FICO scores (the scores lenders use). The FAKO scores are typically higher than your true score. There is no point in purchasing those scores as it does not give you a true picture of how lenders view you as a buyer. They even list it on their website in tiny tiny writing that the scores they sell are not the scores lenders use to determine your credit worthiness.


You are correct that all of them sell FAKO's but different versions.

 

EX does sell PLUS scores

Transunion offers VantageScores

EQ sells their own FAKO "Equifax Credit Score" but they also sell the same version of the EQ FICO (Beacon 5.0) sold here. You have to be very care at the EQ website.

Message 17 of 29
maiden_girl
Valued Contributor

Re: Equifax FICO and Equifax Score

I made that mistake with Experian a few years ago. They claimed they sold FICO scores but really sold the PLUS score. I was in a dispute with them for a few days because I had purchased the bureau 3-1 report/score and they were all FAKO scores (I didn't know that at the time). A lender eventually pulled my scores and informed me my scores were much lower than I had thought which caused me not to get a loan at the APR I had initially anticipated. I was subsequently refunded half the cost of the report due to their lack of properly displaying information on their website.

 

As of 2017, rebuilding...
Message 18 of 29
R_W_
Valued Member

Re: Equifax FICO and Equifax Score

I think the crucial part to this that I am leaving out is that my myFICO EQ score was also in the mid 700's (737 to be exact) when I paid off this car loan.  All other scores that I have been referring to increased to some degree or another and this score DECREASED 75 points to 662 when I paid off and closed this account.  (It has since creeped up another few points to 665).  When I looked at the score power report it said that the reason it had dropped was that i had recently missed a payment.... which was not only incorrect, but was inconsistant with all of the payment histories listed in the very same report.

 

I am very frustrated and have no idea how to fix it....if it weren't for my upcoming refi and the assurances by everyone here that this score is what the lenders pull and the most accurate, I would have just given up.  But I keep hoping that someone will tell me the way to have it properly reflected in my score. 

 

I looked at the high achiever criteria (>760):

  • Olderst account >19 years, mine is  >20 years credit history
  • Revolving/CC balance is 7%,   mine is 1%
  • Average age of accounts 6-12 years, mine is 14 years 6 months
  • Opened their most recent account 27 months ago mine is 10 months ago, before that was 9 years ago.
  • Average 6 open/active accounts, I have 11 open/active accounts, all "pays as agreed".
  • FICO High Achievers have 4 to 5 Credit card, I have 4
  • 93% of high achievers have no missed payments, but if they do they are nearly 4 years ago.  Here is where I fall into a little trouble I have 5 missed payments in  in the past 7 years (30 days).  The oldest is almost 7 years old and will fall off in November, the most recent is well over 3 years old and the other 3 are 4-6 years old).  The most recent (3.5 years old) is on a car loan which was recently paid off early and closed. (This is what seemed to trigger my dramatic 75 point score drop.
  • Never had a 60 day or longer
  • No public Records or collections
  • Credit Mix: I have 5 Mortages (I own rental properties), 2 installment loans (a student loan and a roof loan), and 4 revolving credit cards.  FICO says I have a healthy credit mix

  From all that I have read here and on other sites.  Closed accounts have slightly less impact than open, so I think that paying off the car that had my most recent missed payment would have been "score nuetral" or even helped rather than hurt my score the way it did.

 

So there it all is.... maybe that is the profile of a 665.... but I have read through a lot of people's stories on this site and looked at their corresponding scores and I just don't think so.  Keep in mind that  all of these things were there before I paid my car loan and my myFICO score was 737.  All that has changed besides this loan is time... my balances are slightly lower with 2 months more payments and my missed payments are older.  None of those should drop my score.

 

What am I missing?  I know there are some serious credit gurus on this site, so I am hoping that someone can tell me.... btw, I called myFICO and Equifax when this happened and they both agreed, this should not have caused such a drop and they saw no reason for such a drop.....the initiated disputes on my behalf but the results did not change anything.

 

I await your thoughts....  Thanks!

 


Starting Score: EQ 740, EX 792 (lender pull), TU 772 (lender pull)
Current Score: EX 850, EQ 835, TU 755
Goal Score: all over 800


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

Message 19 of 29
llecs
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Equifax FICO and Equifax Score

Paying pff a car note wouldn't drop your scores like that. Your mix is unimpacted and I'd guess a possibility of a slight gain due to adding an extra $0 balance.

 

Don't rely on your SW alerts to alert you to changes. It'll only show a net gain or loss when there could have been any number of things on your CR that changed and couple have produced a drop like that. In other words, SW alerts don't show the full picture. Pull your EQ report from somewhere and study it in great detail. If it says there's a late, look over your reports in detail. Especially look in your Accounts page (if pulled from myFICO) to see if any red-flagged accounts updated or changed. Your alert is indicative of that.

 

BTW, EX = Experian and EQ = Equifax. FYI just in case anyone looks at your siggy.

Message 20 of 29
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