Vantage Score Way Below Ex Fico 8?

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I'm in the market to pick up a CSR in the next few days. I made some adjustments to my utilization which was hurting me and Discover said they would make an off cycle update to the bureaus for me. I know this should help my score a lot.

While checking my scores the last few days I've noticed that my Ex Fico8 score is way higher than what is reported on Vantage, however, it seems all the research that I've done shows that Vantage typically reports higher?

Which score is more accurate and should I trust?

Vantage 3.0

TU: 695

EQ: 705

FICO 8:

TU: 705 (from Discover, date is 7/14)

EX: 748

I know I have no chance with a 695 but I also feel like that score doesn't seem accurate at all.

Profile:

AAoA: 5 yr 4 mo

Oldest accounts: 7 years (6+ for CC)

Baddies: None

Cards:

VS Store Card: 0% Utilization, 1250 limit

Discover it: was 74% at last report with $2200/$3000, currently sits at $1790/$6000

No recent inquires, one paid off student loan and car loan

Total other loans: 9 (8 of these are student loans from the FedLoan $26000 total balance, no payment owed due to qualifying for IDR last year)

Is my score that low solely due to utilization? Should I even care about the Vantage scores?

[Anonymous]

Definitely trust your FICO scores. That's what any lender will pull when making a credit decision. Currently Vantage is more for informational purposes. Who knows if that will change, but as long as your FICO scores are high enough you'll be fine. My Vantage 3.0 tend to be higher than my FICO but not by much. Saw my Vantage 4.0 and it demolished my 700+ FICO scores into the 600's. Thankfully as I mentioned FICO is all that matters.

[Anonymous]

Neither is more "accurate" than the other.

Both Fico scores and Vantage scores are accurate.  What matters is what is more relevant and the answer to that 99 times out of 100 is a Fico score.  Trying to compare the two is like trying to compare apples and oranges.  Trying to say if one is better than the other is like trying to argue that an apple is "better" than an orange.  Just now that your Fico scores are more meaningful, so it's a best practice to track those, as lenders are much more likely to use them relative to Vantage scores.

[Anonymous]

Thanks folks!

I was approved and the HP actually increased my Vantage score? Oh well, I'm not complaining!