TU plummeted! Why?

[Anonymous]

My scores: 2/19 EQ-519, EX-539 3/18 EQ-560, EX-570, TU-620 3/24 EQ-518, TU-499!!! What happened? I have not opened any new lines of credit, applied for credit, or been late. My reports are still the same. What gives? I sent dispute lettes to the CRA's last week, but only on 3 tradelines. Would that cause it?

[cdtotten]

I think we have two issues here. First, you reference all three of your scores, which means you probably got them from something like Truecredit, or one of the other credit monitoring systems. They do not provide true FICO scores, so the scores are meaningless.

Second, you stated that you disputed three tradelines. When tradelines are under dispute, they are not factored into your FICO (or presumably FAKO) scores. Once the dispute is over, they will be factored back in. That likely explains your jump in either direction.

For instance, I once disputed a late payment.. my score the next day jumped 30 points, but as soon as the dispute was closed and validated, my score was right back to where it started.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input about the diputes, but it seems too early for them to have validated (closed the dispute) already. I just mailed them CRRR on Friday, 3/19. And I got all of my previous scores straight from each CRA, until the ones I got here today. I've never used a credit monitoring service. I think that's why I'm so confused. My scores were better coming straight from the CRA. We're talking a drop of 121 points in less than a week with no explaination. I compared reports and can see no difference at all.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the input about the diputes, but it seems too early for them to have validated (closed the dispute) already. I just mailed them CRRR on Friday, 3/19. And I got all of my previous scores straight from each CRA, until the ones I got here today. I've never used a credit monitoring service. I think that's why I'm so confused. My scores were better coming straight from the CRA. We're talking a drop of 121 points in less than a week with no explaination. I compared reports and can see no difference at all.

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You can't purchase your Experian FICO score from here (or anywhere else, for that matter), so something is amiss. For any reports & scores purchased here, at myfico.com, you can look at "understanding your FICO Score" (second page) part of your purchased report, and look at the "What's Hurting/What's Helping" your FICO Score. You can compare the comments from the two months in question to get an idea if something major has changed.

But, I think we may be comparing apples to oranges here, as it appears that at least one set of your scores are not FICO scores.

[Anonymous]

I undertstand that I can't get experian fico. My question is about Transunion. Can anyone explain a 121 point drop when the 2 reports are identical?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I undertstand that I can't get experian fico. My question is about Transunion. Can anyone explain a 121 point drop when the 2 reports are identical?

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Are you comparing two FICO scores, purchased from *this* website (myfico.com)? If so, did you look at the 2nd page of your 3rd Party report in "My Purchaes" (look at the main toolbar at the top of your screen) for both TU reports? Copy & paste, in your next reply, the "What's hurting/What's helping" your score information.

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I undertstand that I can't get experian fico. My question is about Transunion. Can anyone explain a 121 point drop when the 2 reports are identical?

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On 3/18 and 3/24 you received a TU score. Were both of those purchased from myFICO.com?

There are hundreds of scoring models out there. If you got your TU score from here (an actual FICO), but compared it with a score purchased elsewhere, then you'd end up comparing apples and oranged. If you compared the TU from myFICO, TrueCredit, Creditchecktotal.com, creditkarma.com, quizzle.com, and Identityguard.com as an example, and lined them all up together, you'd have 6 different TU scores....some higher and some lower.

[Anonymous]

No, and I probably chouldn't use the term "fico" for each score. I went to transunion's webite last week and ordered my score that was 620. (tried to copy & paste, but it's pdf). Anyway, that score came straight from transunion. Today's score for Transunion (the 499) is the one I purchased from myfico. I'm sorry if this is confusing.... Please bare with me. I compared them side by side and they are identical. What's hurting: BK (due to come off 10/11, too many unpaid ca, and they both say none of my revolving credit shows a credit amount (which I don't understand, because I only have 1 card and it shows the CL) What's helping: Installment loan in good standing (my car payment and the only other good credit I have right now other than the cc) I feel so stupid right now. What am I missing? As a side note: My mom offered to put me as an AU on her BOA cc. (She could be in the 800 club! LOL!) Her BOA has a CL of 25,000. She has had it for roughly 10-12 years and always pays the balance in full each month (<5%util). Will this help raise my score while I try to clean up the rest?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
No, and I probably chouldn't use the term "fico" for each score. I went to transunion's webite last week and ordered my score that was 620. (tried to copy & paste, but it's pdf). Anyway, that score came straight from transunion. Today's score for Transunion (the 499) is the one I purchased from myfico. I'm sorry if this is confusing.... Please bare with me. I compared them side by side and they are identical. What's hurting: BK (due to come off 10/11, too many unpaid ca, and they both say none of my revolving credit shows a credit amount (which I don't understand, because I only have 1 card and it shows the CL) What's helping: Installment loan in good standing (my car payment and the only other good credit I have right now other than the cc) I feel so stupid right now. What am I missing? As a side note: My mom offered to put me as an AU on her BOA cc. (She could be in the 800 club! LOL!) Her BOA has a CL of 25,000. She has had it for roughly 10-12 years and always pays the balance in full each month (<5%util). Will this help raise my score while I try to clean up the rest?

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Unless you went to transunioncs.com (note the cs) the 620 score you got was not a true fico. Each of the 3 CRAs sell there own proprietary scores  which can vary wildly from the true fico scores. The 499 score you got from myFICO is a true fico score.

CB

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
No, and I probably chouldn't use the term "fico" for each score. I went to transunion's webite last week and ordered my score that was 620. (tried to copy & paste, but it's pdf). Anyway, that score came straight from transunion. Today's score for Transunion (the 499) is the one I purchased from myfico. I'm sorry if this is confusing.... Please bare with me. I compared them side by side and they are identical. What's hurting: BK (due to come off 10/11, too many unpaid ca, and they both say none of my revolving credit shows a credit amount (which I don't understand, because I only have 1 card and it shows the CL) What's helping: Installment loan in good standing (my car payment and the only other good credit I have right now other than the cc) I feel so stupid right now. What am I missing? As a side note: My mom offered to put me as an AU on her BOA cc. (She could be in the 800 club! LOL!) Her BOA has a CL of 25,000. She has had it for roughly 10-12 years and always pays the balance in full each month (<5%util). Will this help raise my score while I try to clean up the rest?

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Unless you went to transunioncs.com (note the cs) the 620 score you got was not a true fico. Each of the 3 CRAs sell there own proprietary scores  which can vary wildly from the true fico scores. The 499 score you got from myFICO is a true fico score.

CB

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To add, it's comparing apples and oranges. It's like looking at both an apple and an orange side-by-side and then you ponder if there's 5 seeds in this orange, how many are in the apple. You can't compare.

In fact, the score pulled here is a FICO and the score pulled from transunion.com isn't a FICO. I may be mistaken (please someone correct me), but I think the score from transunion.com is a Vantage score. The score range from FICO is 300-850 and the score range from a Vantage score is 501-990. Statistically, your Vantage score would be higher because the range is higher. Also, Vantage scores consider things that FICO does not and vice-versa. I'd ignore the score pulled from transunion.com and focus on FICO's.