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@Anonymous wrote:
Since TU and EQ are the only two scores we can get access to on our own, does anybody know if on average which one of the three usually scores the lowest? I've noticed that TU has much more detail on my report so I was just wondering if TU would usually be the one. Thanks!
There is no universal rule.
According to various whitepapers on Fair Isaac's site, their statisticians work hard to ensure that all versions of their scoring algorith have the same distribution of scores; this is extremely important to lenders who want to know that if they impose a cutoff score of X that will equal Y percent of the population. However, each version weighs various factors differently.
Think of several professors teaching sections of the same undergraduate class at a college or university. Having taught at that level myself I can assure you that no matter how hard we tried to be fair and consistent no two evaluators will agree all the time. So what we usually did was agree on our grading curve: X percent would get A, Y percent would get B, etc., because we knew it would not be fair to the students if one of us was a much harder or easier grader than the others! But making sure we gave out comparable percentages of A grades did not mean, could never mean, that every student to whom I gave an A would have been given that grade by another instructor.
Based on various comments I read here when we could get all three, and on my own experience when I could get all three, I believe the main difference among the CRAs for those with clean histories is how they weight (1) percentage utilization on revolving debt, (2) total amount owed on revolving accounts, and (3) number of accounts reporting a balance. For example my wife and I both have well-paying jobs, we use very little cash, and our credit cards have high limits. So at the end of some months we might briefly owe more than a thousand dollars on every card, which we always pay in full. As a percentage of our limits this looks very small, but as a total amount it looks moderately large. Now the rest of my history is such that even with this quirk my scores always come out over 780 so I'm not to worried about this. But before the next time my wife and I plan to apply for something, for a couple months in advance I'm gonna prepay those credit cards in order to make sure all my scores will be over 800. In my own case, whenever I could see my EX it was my highest, so if I get both the others above 800 then I can be confident all three are, but for somebody else that might not be the case.
Each of the scoring models and CRB implementations thereof place a diffent emphasis on certain factors. Depending on where you are weak (or strong) your lowest score can be on a different CRB.
In my case TU is my highest (and has been), TX is second highest. EQ brings up the rear. EQ does not like baddies and two still report there. There is nothing I can do about it. (Scores 700 - 735)
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
EQ hates lates, period.
Not as much as I do. If I could only squeeze 1 more point out of EQ and then they would not ding me 3 points for 0% CC util.