Thread: Credit Score Differences, Same Bureau, Same Day

Been awhile since I have been here. Over ten years ago this forum helped me to rebuild my credit. Unfortunately due to the economy & two layoffs, I have run into trouble again for which once again, I find myself once again rebuilding. Some of what I learned then still applies today and is helping me.

My question is how can a credit score from TU run on the same day by two different credit grantors differ by over 50 points? A hard credit inquiry would not have reduced the score that much. The second place we went to didn't seem shocked. The finance person said it is not unusual for a credit report to be run by them and you could go down the street, have a report run from the same bureau and get a completely different score. I understand that, but we're talking a score of 649 at the first place and 560 about an hour later.

Both were run on a Saturday and the credit bureau was Transunion. Why such a big difference? Usually when you know your score when asked, it is usually very close to what it is when your report is pulled if you keep up with your score, How embarrassing this was!

Welcome back to Creditnet!

Are you sure you're comparing the same credit scores? Were they both TU-based FICO scores? If you were buying a car, there are auto scores too, which will differ from your regular FICO score.

If you're positive they were both regular TU-based FICO scores (aka EMPIRICA), then there definitely shouldn't be nearly a 90 point difference unless something really bad just happened to hit your report on Saturday.

Did you ever find out if you were actually comparing the same TU-based FICO credit scores?

My bank explained to me that this often happens because the bank/credit union may weigh items on the credit report differently than another lending institution.

If you pull your experian CR (for example) on your own and get a 750 and then walk into the credit union where you have your bank accounts, you will find that they will pull the experian report and it will have a different score, now go to the car dealership and apply for a car loan through a different institution and you will be told another score. These scores are all from the same reporting agency, but the creditor may weigh certain items on your credit report differently. In essence they use the experian (or other agency) report top devise their own score and this is the score that they use to determine your credit worthiness with.

I'm no expert....just relaying what I was told by my bank. Does it seem odd???? Um...YES. It's some of what George Bush called "Fuzzy Math".