Huge Descrepancy in TU and Equifax scores

[UtahTiger]

Any suggestions on how to close the gap?  TU is 727 and Equifax is 762.  I was wanting a middle score of 760 to get the best rate for my home refinance.  Of course I have no idea what my "real" Experian is but the FAKO is 764.  I am guessing that equates to about 730.  Anyway my question is how do the TU and Equifax score differently and how do get them to be closer to the same?   Both have the exact same information.  Exact AAA and Longest acct and Credit History, Same Revolving and Installment debt. 11,500 and $12,700. Both have one late payment 6.6 years ago. (30 days)

[haulingthescoreup]

Is any of that debt on a HELOC? TU98 includes HELOC debt in revolving, although it doesn't display. (No idea why, but it does.)

I'm getting "too much revolving debt" on TU now with $0 CC debt. It's including my HELOC in this. The other two don't do this, and I don't think TU04 does.

[geronimo2008]

My TU score bounces up and down and if I go to the "next steps" screen it seems to sometimes ahow the HELOC as revolving (and that is when my score is low) and sometimes as mortgage debt.  There seesm to be no rhyme or reason to when it is calssified which way.   I have writtent o TU.  It getrs corrected for awhile (and the score rises)  then it goes back to calling it revolving for awhile.

[RobertEG]

In the end, when you get a FICO score, it is not generated independently by either TU or EQ.  It is,of course, generated based on the data in their data files, but the actually scoring is done through the FICO licensed algorithm made availble to them.  The FICO algorithm is apparently, somehow, using some code in your credit file to determine how to score, for example, a HELOC, as revolving or installment.  I doubt that Fair Isaac has shared with either TU of EQ the inner workings of their scoring algorithm.  If it has, it is probably not shared with the clerks you are conversing with.

Maybe your OC clerk is inputting account type codes differently from month to month.

In my opinion, if I wanted the real answer to this question, I would write a letter to Fair Isaac explaining your situtation, and asking them for their advice on what the correct CRA coding should be to get you your desired scoring.  Then I would call my creditor, and make sure they are coding it according to what Fair Isaac is recommending..

[haulingthescoreup]

I doubt that the algorithm is randomly flip-flopping about. It's more likely that the info submitted from the lender keeps going into different data fields at the credit bureau, i.e., TU.

The credit bureaus have an exasperating way of redesigning their record structures, and when this happens, the data sent by creditors might not map properly into the the data fields set up back when the score formula was created.

Lenders stick a code on the info that they send it, and if that code isn't mapped properly on the CRA end, all sorts of things can go awry. Think of an old-fashioned mail-room clerk, holding a letter with an old address, trying to figure where the best place is to file it.

btw, this is why there are often bizarre displays and errors on third-party monitoring reports, including those from myFICO. The data isn't assigned to the right location, so it appears in the wrong place or is missing entirely.

But FICO scores are crunched off the full report (and this happens at the CRA), so if the underlying full report can get straightened out, the score will follow.

[RobertEG]

Utah, I would only add the following suggestion.

While, superficially, your two CRs may appear the same, if your CRs are consumer-based reports, including those obtained here at myFICO, they are, nonetheless, sanitized and condensed reports of what is in your credit file.  

FICO scores, as HTSU has said, are not generated from credit reports, they are generated from the complete data reported by creditors to your credit file.

Garbage in, garbage out.

While you can never get a full printout of your total credit file, you can obtain the most complete summary of your credit file that is available to any consumer, without spending a penny.

You are entitled, under the FCRA, to one free credit report from each CRA, once every 12-months.  In order to comply with this free provision of an annual credit report, the CRAs have established a web site at annualcreditreport.com.  NOT to be confused with the not-free sites, such as freecreditreport.com, which are not free, and not nearly as complete.

Any attempt to improve credit score should always begin with a review of the accuracny of your credit report.  Well over half of credit reports contain inaccurate information. 

If you have not done so within the past 12 months, just log onto annualcreditreport.com, and order your free annnal credit report from the data in the files of each CRA, and carefully compare them.  Just one caution.  While this is a free site, they will offer to also sell you credit scores based on your free credit reports.  Just decline.  Those are FAKO scores that you dont need.  Just get your CR's and leave.

[geronimo2008]

I don't believe I ever said that the TU algorithm flip flops around.  I simply said that my EQ score is amazingly consitent but that my TU score varies and the variation seem to be tie to how the  HELOC is classifie at different times.  Whether that variation is caused by the model or how data is entered or anything else it has an impact on how we are scored.  There is simply more to it than just wheter TU uses FICO98 or FICO 04 and if you have a HELOC your score may vary as wildly as mine does.

[haulingthescoreup]

---

@geronimo2008 wrote:

I don't believe I ever said that the TU algorithm flip flops around.  I simply said that my EQ score is amazingly consitent but that my TU score varies and the variation seem to be tie to how the  HELOC is classifie at different times.  Whether that variation is caused by the model or how data is entered or anything else it has an impact on how we are scored.  There is simply more to it than just wheter TU uses FICO98 or FICO 04 and if you have a HELOC your score may vary as wildly as mine does.

---

Sorry, I was replying to a different poster, not you.