MyFico TU off 34 points from Lender pull

[cinnamongirl]

Ok, I thought MyFico was supposed to be the most reliable way to see your FICO!  My TU was 650 and my EQ was 609. Two days after I pulled them, Wells Fargo Mortgage pulled them and though EQ was the same, my TU was 34 points lower than MyFico!!  I knew that there may be slight differences but was not expecting this large of a gap--- any explanations or ideas how this happened? There were NO new credit alerts or changes to my credit report in that time.  Luckily, Wells Fargo is doing FHA loans down to 600 (and sometimes below) but it was still a shock.

[kjm79]

Although I personally do not know the specific differences, I've seen on the boards that TU has two scoring models, TU04 and TU98 or something.  Maybe doing a search you can find a discussion on the differences.  That's most likey the reason behind the point difference. 

[MarineVietVet]

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@cinnamongirl wrote:

Ok, I thought MyFico was supposed to be the most reliable way to see your FICO!  My TU was 650 and my EQ was 609. Two days after I pulled them, Wells Fargo Mortgage pulled them and though EQ was the same, my TU was 34 points lower than MyFico!!  I knew that there may be slight differences but was not expecting this large of a gap--- any explanations or ideas how this happened? There were NO new credit alerts or changes to my credit report in that time.  Luckily, Wells Fargo is doing FHA loans down to 600 (and sometimes below) but it was still a shock.

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Hi cinnamongirl,

The TU version that myFICO sells is TU98 while most lenders seem be pulling TU04 so that can make some difference in scores. Plus there is a FICO score that leans more heavily toward mortgages just as there is a FICO Auto Enhanced Score that some lenders look at for car purchases.

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".

[crackiein]

The difference you have experienced is between TU 98 which is the only FICO scoring model available to consumers at this time vs. TU 04 which is pulled by mortgage lenders.  I spent weeks trying to determine the difference in the 2 scoring models because I was getting ready to apply for a mortgage refi myself and really didn't want any huge surprises. 

When I pulled TU 98 (here) my score was 728.  My mortgage lender pulled (TU 04) at the same time and my score was 720.  I'm unsure what the differences are but the score sold to consumers is, in my opinion, nothing more than a FAKO since lenders don't seem to be using the older version any longer.  OTOH, it's better than a shot in the dark. 

[haulingthescoreup]

There is not a single solitary person here who is happy that we're still stuck with TU98. But that's a decision by TU, so go figure. Not a whole lot that we can do about it, it appears.

fwiw (not much), the report itself is accurate. The problem is that very few lenders who pull TU use the 98 version these days.