Why are my EQ Fico Scores different?

[syncerepapi]

I need help understanding why my EQ Fico scores are different.  I just signed up today for Equifax Score watch which gave me a Fico Score of 609.  This is a 17 point drop from the myFico score I pulled on 4/3/11.  So to kill my curiosity I pulled the EQ score from myFICO immediately.  It gave me the score as 628 which is up 2 points from the 4/3/11 pull.  How can my scores be so different for the same EQ Fico pulled on the same day within 5 minutes of each other?  Im trying not to get frustrated with this credit score stuff.  I went over both score power reports and they are pretty much the same except for a few details listed below in red:

Equifax Score Watch 4/19/11 Shows:                                                                     myFico 4/19/11 shows:

1 Public Record - Bankruptcy discharged 8/2004 w/ no other negatives.                     1 Public Record - Bankruptcy discharged 8/2004 w/ no other negatives.

No missed Payments.                                                                                           No missed Payments.

My oldest account is 6 years 6 months.                                                                  My oldest account is 6 years 6 months.

AAoA  at 2 years 5 months.                                                                                   AAoA  at 2 years.

Revolving Credit Utilization: 98% *ouch, working on getting it down*                           Revolving Credit Utilization: 98%

16 inquiries in the past year.                                                                                  15 inquiries in the past year.

14 accounts in good standing.                                                                               12 accounts in good standing (new CC and student loan not showing)

[llecs]

That's odd. Now some of it can be explained, or at least a theory tossed out. If both were pulled the same day, and assuming they didn't update during those 5 minutes, then there are a couple of things to note:

1) Your AAoA is measured by FICO in whole numbers only and is rounded down. So, your AAoA is effectively 2 years and in another 7 months, it'll go to 3. EQ adds the months, but it doesn't mean anything.

2) Did you apply for a car or mortgage in the past year and apply for at least 2 lenders in a short period of time? FICO will take these inquiries and score them together. Your FICO report can easily show/score less inquiries than EQ. Another theory is that maybe one is older than 12 months? FICO ignores anything beyond a year.

I can't think of any reason why EQ FICO isn't showing all of your TLs. So the new CC and SL aren't showing on your Accounts page? On the Glance page, are they not showing in the total of accounts? Finally, the score is a bit odd.

[llecs]

To add, this is the product you have, right?

http://www.equifax.com/credit-score-watch/

Most all of Equifax's other products are similar, and they offer scores, but they aren't FICO scores.

ETA...make sure it says "FICO" in Equifax's service. If not, it might say "Equifax Credit Score".

[Anonymous]

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@llecs wrote:

To add, this is the product you have, right?

http://www.equifax.com/credit-score-watch/

Most all of Equifax's other products are similar, and they offer scores, but they aren't FICO scores.

ETA...make sure it says "FICO" in Equifax's service. If not, it might say "Equifax Credit Score".

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+1.  That's a good thing to clarify because this is somewhat mystifying.

I've had both services (myFICO Score Watch and Equifax Score Watch -- don't ask me why -- it was some sort of brain hiccup) simultaneously and my scores have been identical, as have my accounts listed. 

[syncerepapi]

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@llecs wrote:

2) Did you apply for a car or mortgage in the past year and apply for at least 2 lenders in a short period of time? FICO will take these inquiries and score them together. Your FICO report can easily show/score less inquiries than EQ. Another theory is that maybe one is older than 12 months? FICO ignores anything beyond a year.

I can't think of any reason why EQ FICO isn't showing all of your TLs. So the new CC and SL aren't showing on your Accounts page? On the Glance page, are they not showing in the total of accounts? Finally, the score is a bit odd.

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I double checked and I did purchase the Equifax Score Watch product and it states it is a FICO score that I am receiving.  Your #2 is right, in that last september I applied for a car loan and a personal loan within a week of each other.   Its not the EQ FICO that is missing the two TLs as it is showing everything as it should.  It is the info I received from myFICO that is missing the new CC and SL.  It is nowhere to be found on the throught the whole report.  So EQ FICO is showing 14 total accounts and myFICO is showing 12 total accounts.