Lender Scores vs. Myfico & Fakos

[Anonymous]

I am looking to apply for a USDA direct mortgage as well.  I am trying to figure out if there is any way to buy a score that is close to the FICO Classic 2004, because it seems like your FICO score here and the FICO score they pulled for you are way diffrent.  

[wednesdayaddamsd]

Hi Ktlynn,

I am not aware of any provider of TU04 scores with the exception of a lender. My TU98 scores from this site were so low that I thought I had no chance of my TU04 score being over 640. You might be surprised so the only way to find out is from your lender. I pull my free TU Transrisk score from a site called credit karma. They do not provide a fico score but I can see what debts of mine show up, if any new inquiries show up, etc. so it is useful for me in at least that sense. And fico or not, creditkarma was closer to my TU04 score than TU 98 was!

I with you all the best in your journey toward home ownership!

[Anonymous]

I use credit karma too.  Thats the site I check everyday b/c it does give me access to my TU report and if anything new pops up.  I use scorewatch here.  Was it the FAKO that they give you that was closer to your score with the USDA or was it the Vantage score?  My vantage score is much higher 645 then my FAKO with them 569.  Also did you just fill out the full application and apply that way or fill out the prequalifier first?  I filled out the prequalifier and was denied, but they only pulled my TU report and never gave me a score?

[Anonymous]

I should say I wasn't really "denied" so much as just no answer.  I had to call back three weeks later to be told I needed "more" time on my credit report.  No real answers what so ever!

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I use credit karma too.  Thats the site I check everyday b/c it does give me access to my TU report and if anything new pops up.  I use scorewatch here.  Was it the FAKO that they give you that was closer to your score with the USDA or was it the Vantage score?  My vantage score is much higher 645 then my FAKO with them 569.  Also did you just fill out the full application and apply that way or fill out the prequalifier first?  I filled out the prequalifier and was denied, but they only pulled my TU report and never gave me a score?

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That's because the score ranges are so much different. VantageScores go from 501-990 whereas the other score offered from CK (the TransRisk score) ranges from 350-850.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[Anonymous]

So why are the lender scores different? I applied for a GE Capital credit card and they said they ran all three and based on the TU score of 443 denied me. That was on 5-18-12. On 5-25 I check and myfico TU score is 688 that's a huge point difference. Nothing in my credit report had changed in a week! I couldn't get any info out of GE Capital and can't get a live person at TU.

[Walt_K]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So why are the lender scores different? I applied for a GE Capital credit card and they said they ran all three and based on the TU score of 443 denied me. That was on 5-18-12. On 5-25 I check and myfico TU score is 688 that's a huge point difference. Nothing in my credit report had changed in a week! I couldn't get any info out of GE Capital and can't get a live person at TU.

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Hi elli.  This is a somewhat older post so some of the original posters may not be monitoring closely now.

There are several things going on with your question.  First is what type of score you got from GE Capital credit.  When lenders approve you for a card with terms that are not the best terms they offer, they now have to provide you with a credit score.  I don't think they have to with denials (can't remember the CARD act), but some do.  Unfortunately, the CARD act didn't specify what kind of score they have to provide, and some lenders provide an internal scoring system, or some other scoring model such as Transrisk, Vantage, PLUS, etc.  Collectively, people around here refer to scores like Transrisk, Vantage, PLUS, etc. as FAKO scores.  It basically just means not a FICO score. 

When comparing scores, you need to make sure you're comparing apples to apples.  So that's why the first question is what score GE Capital credit sent to you.  Sometimes it will say right on the letter.  Sometimes it will provide a score range, which can help narrow down what the model is.

The other issue to keep in mind is that within a scoring model, there are various versions.  So for TU, for example, the FICO version you get on this site is TU98.  The FICO version that most lenders seem to use for TU is TU04.  You can have very different scores based on version, though in your case 240 points would be higher than anything I've seen reported previously. 

If I had to guess, I'd say GE Capital provided  you with some internal scoring system that you won't be able to compare to your FICO score.  If it is a FICO score that you got, then there almost has to be a change in your reports that you aren't noticing.

[llecs]

I'll also add that GW Cap uses their own internal scores when calculating a score. They don't use FICO. I think their scale tops at 610 or 630 or something like that, as opposed to FICO's 850.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Walt K you are right. They sent me the letter with the score because they approved me for a different card than the one I wanted. In the box for the credit score they list "source: GE Capital Retail Bank" so I'm guessing that you are right and it's there own internal scoring system.