Why are my Transunion and Equifax FICO Scores different?

[yaya2486]

Hi FICO Friends!

I've been working on fixing my credit for a year now.. and it's making SOME kind of progress... I started out somewhere in the 540s and now have seen some progress.

I've always only pulled my Equifax Fico Score and Credit reports... Currently my Equifax Fico is 644. I FINALLY decided to pull my Transunion FICO and report.. Turns out my Transunion FICO is at 660, which is higher than my 644 Equifax. Why is this so different? And is my credit still considered "bad"??! Hope you can help me!

[MarineVietVet]

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@yaya2486 wrote:

Hi FICO Friends!

I've been working on fixing my credit for a year now.. and it's making SOME kind of progress... I started out somewhere in the 540s and now have seen some progress.

I've always only pulled my Equifax Fico Score and Credit reports... Currently my Equifax Fico is 644. I FINALLY decided to pull my Transunion FICO and report.. Turns out my Transunion FICO is at 660, which is higher than my 644 Equifax. Why is this so different? And is my credit still considered "bad"??! Hope you can help me!

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Hi there.

All the CRA's will take your information and use a slighly different scoring formula so that will explain slight variations in scores. Plus it's very rare for all your reports to have exactly the same information.

A 16 point difference is not that much. As you can see my scores vary by 53 points. It's nothing to be concerned about.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[haulingthescoreup]

Each CRA has its own FICO formula. Even in the very rare instances where your credit reports are exactly alike across all three bureaus (for instance, for those with only a few years of credit history, so everything shows up the same on all three reports), you wind up with different FICO scores for each bureau.

If the scores are WAY different, it's generally because something is reporting differently on the reports. Check out things like if all accounts are there, if the opening dates match, if any negatives are the same severity and same dates, if the balances reported are the same, etc.

eta: dang it, he beat me again!

[MarineVietVet]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

Each CRA has its own FICO formula. Even in the very rare instances where your credit reports are exactly alike across all three bureaus (for instance, for those with only a few years of credit history, so everything shows up the same on all three reports), you wind up with different FICO scores for each bureau.

If the scores are WAY different, it's generally because something is reporting differently on the reports. Check out things like if all accounts are there, if the opening dates match, if any negatives are the same severity and same dates, if the balances reported are the same, etc.

eta: dang it, he beat me again!

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LOL. I just happened to get to it first.

But your words were reel perty!!!

[Anonymous]

As Marine and Hauling wrote - different formula and different info. 

For example, my scores are around 6 pts different between the two - and one report has 2 inq and the other report has 1 inq and one "late payment" that's 6 years old (TU removed the info, EQ didn't).  

Check them aginst each other to see what's changed between them, but don't worry about it too much, assume a 20 pt difference or so is normal.  If you need them up for a specific reason, focus on the lowest one to try and get it higher.

[Duke-of-Earl]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

... Even in the very rare instances where your credit reports are exactly alike across all three bureaus (for instance, for those with only a few years of credit history, ...)

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Hey, hauling, it's not just those with only a few years of history who have identical reports!  All three of mine are identical, worked hard to make it that way although not with that particular objective.  I just wanted the reports to be as accurate as I could get them, so several years ago I went on a project to eliminate false or outdated entries, even if they were unlikely to influence the scores.  Now the only differences are that EQ and EX report accounts opened on the first of the month, but TU reports the actual DoM for some accounts, also things like different spellings of my employer, etc.  OOPS, one fairly new serious exception: TU is reporting a bogus INQ that I'll have to work on.