TU score vs EQ score

[Mekitcat]

Ok I need help here, it kills me to see such a difference  between my two scores. And the only thing I can see that makes it like that is AAoA and length of credit.

This is what shows, I pulled them both today.

TU             715 score                                                                      EQ   634 score

                              opened             balance       status      neg                                   opened       balance        status     neg

HSBC                   4/2011      $   181 /320      pay/agreed   no     HSBC                   4/2011    $   181 /320    pay/agreed   no

Cap One              4/2011     $   122 /300       pay/agreed   no   Cap One               4/2011    $   122 /300    pay/agreed  no

Discover AU       6/2011     $ 1986 /6000    pay/agreed   no     Discover AU        6/2011   $ 1986 /6000  pay/agreed  no

Gemb/Walmart  8/2011     $   151 /400       pay/agreed  no     Gemb/Walmart   8/2011   $   151 /400     pay/agreed  no

Chase                  6/1999     $           0               unrated       no

WellsFargo Dlr (van) 7/2010 $4029 /5404  pay/agreed  no    WellsFargo Dlr (van) 7/2010 $4029 /5404  pay/agreed  no    

Taylor/Whitaker 6/2009    $        0                pay/agreed  no    Taylor/Whitaker 6/2009    $        0            pay/agreed  no 

BAC                       6/2009    $ 74,994             pay/agreed  no    BAC                       6/2009    $ 74,994        pay/agreed  no  

Hurting on TU

1. You've made heavy use of available revolving credit        35%

2. You have a short credit history                                              oldest 12yrs, 2months open- AAoA 2yrs (chase card)

3. You have too many credit accounts with balances.          6 accounts

Helping on TU

1. You have no missed payments.

2. You've shown recent use of credit cards.

3. You have an established revolving credit history.

Total number of

Accounts                            8

Acct w/ bal                          6

Accts opened past yr       4

Recent inq                         3

no neg or public records

Hurting on EQ

1. You have a short credit history.                                                 oldest account 2yrs, 2months AAoA 11months

2. You've made heavy use of available revolving credit.           35%

3. You have not established a long revolving credit history.     first  revolving account opened 4 months ago

4. You've recently been looking for credit.                                    3 inquiries past yr (shows on another page inq's 5)

Helping on EQ

1. You have no missed payments.

2. You've shown recent use of credit cards.

Total number of

Accounts                            7

Acct w/ bal                          6

Accts opened past yr       4

Recent inq                         5

no neg or public records

Am I right to think it is because of history and AAoA? The two are almost identical except for the chase card and a couple of inqs. I'm sure the inqs didn't hurt much on score.

And what would my AAoA become when my Amex Zync reports backdating to 1996?

Help!!! Please!

ETA: Wells Fargo is my van payment

[haulingthescoreup]

Yes, you're in two hugely different score buckets due to the Chase only reporting on one. Here are the negative factors (the only ones that matter):

---

Hurting on TU

1. You've made heavy use of available revolving credit        35%

2. You have a short credit history                                      oldest 12yrs, 2months open- AAoA 2yrs (chase card)

3. You have too many credit accounts with balances.          6 accounts

Total number of

Accounts                            8

Acct w/ bal                          6

Accts opened past yr         4

Recent inq                         3

no neg or public records

Hurting on EQ

1. You have a short credit history.                                                 oldest account 2yrs, 2months AAoA 11months

2. You've made heavy use of available revolving credit.           35%

3. You have not established a long revolving credit history.      first  revolving account opened 4 months ago

4. You've recently been looking for credit.                                    3 inquiries past yr (shows on another page inq's 5)

Total number of

Accounts                            7

Acct w/ bal                          6

Accts opened past yr         4

Recent inq                         5

no neg or public records

---

TU's ding on short history is referring to how your AAoA compares to your oldest account; in other words, for someone with 12+ years of history, it is expected that your AAoA would be greater than 2 years.

EQ's ding on short history is because over there, you're pretty much a credit noob: 2 years longest, not even a year for AAoA.

As for what the new AmEx card will do, both will go to 15 years (maybe high 14, depending on the month showing) of oldest. I'm just going to use the AAoA's given, instead of doing the math, but essentially your TU AAoA will stay around two years, three if your actual AAoA is 2y lotsa months. Your EQ will go to two++ years, which should really help.

I think you'll still see dings on both for short history, because your AAoA will still be comparatively short compared to your oldest, but I would guess that your EQ score will get a little closer to your current TU score.

As I'm sure you realize, your job now is to get the util and number of accounts with balances down. My advice from a scoring point of view, and also for a motivational angle, is to pay off the three small balances first, and then the big one(s).

After a second squint, what is the "Wells Fargo Dir", and what is its balance? I'm guessing that it's a line of credit, and that it's nearly maxed out. Otherwise I don't see how you could have anywhere near 35% revolving util. (Your mortgage isn't counted in util.)

[Mekitcat]

Thanks for replying Hauling, I'm hoping it will get close to my TU score, fingers crossed again. 

Wells Fargo Dealer, its a loan on my Van that is what is left to pay out of $5404 I edited my post to show that now.

I also wonder what will happen when my Citi card reports with a CL of $4000? Do you know?

[haulingthescoreup]

Oh, duh me, now I see how it's 35% on the CC's.

Well, with these reported balances, plus the $4K CL and assuming no reporting balance on the new card, your util would then be 23%.

[Mekitcat]

I wanted to transfer balances of my other cards to the Citi Card and start taking advantage of that 21month no interest or BT and then pay them off interest free I didn't plan on using the card other wise.

[haulingthescoreup]

There you go, then. You'll still be at the lower util, plus you'll have way fewer cards with balances. Nice work!

[Mekitcat]

Thanks