Hi All, I refinanced my car today at the local credit union. I had both Equifax Score Power and Experion CreditExpert reports and scores with me. In my original talks with the credit union I could get an 8% loan with a score of 640 or better. I waited months and monitored both Experion and Equifax until today when Equifax was 652 and Experion was 661. Today the credit union says my Equifax (Beacon) is 620 and my Experion is 602! The loan officer was dumbfounded that the bureaus would put this incorrect info out to consumers. Especially since I've waited for my scores to go above 640 and in reality they weren't. She also spent quite a bit of time going over the online credit reports and her version and couldn't find any difference at all. Anyway, I did refinance at 13% which is better than 18%. Anybody have any ideas of how we can correct this kind of crap? Mike
Mike, Sounds like we all have a major lawsuit to consider. You are the one with the proof, though. You have serious proof. You paid for your scores and you did not get what you paid for. If true, then none of us have gotten what we paid for. I have spent over $100 on Equifax ScorePowers over the last two and a half months and $80 with Experians Credit Expert. This is a big time consumer rights issue. It needs to be addressed by law and it needs to come out in the media.
Throwing this out on a limb: Both scores are correct. The online is realtime info that can fluctuate daily. But the relationship between the banks/CRA can and often do lag. So their score is correct also. Kind of like depositing funds in a new bank account and they hold it for X amt of time. So you avl balance is not really your total balance.
You pulled them both on the EXACT DAY that they pulled ??? NOT THAT I'M HAPPY WITH THE F.I.C.O. SCORE DEAL...just wanted to know...
The only other thing that I think might be affecting this is, if true, not really disclosed to those of us who have paid for these scores. What I am talking about is that FICO and Empirica, from what I understand, sell many different types of of credit history assessments which are purchased by loan industries by the product they market. One assessment is for home purchase which we know to have different standards than credit cards by the fact that one rewards you with a lower rate and better terms if you have less "available" credit and the other punishes you with a denial or less attractive terms if you don't have enough as in the balance/cl ratio. I have no idea what car loan product assessments are but you can be sure they differ from the other two. That gets back to disclosure, though. No one said, when I shelled out my money for my scores, that what I was buying was a score for one or the other. What would be the point in buying the score if not to help a consumer assess the right time and conditions with which to consider making an application?
Re: INFO! Online scores aren't real I have the printouts from today. Score Power from Equifax dated 8/13/01 CreditExpert dated from 8/13/01 I'm sure my loan officer would be more than happy to give me the reports she got today. If there is any hope of stoping these crooks (CRA'S) I am more than willing to do it. Mike
Experian says: "Among bureau-based scores, the most widely used score in the financial service industry is the FICO score generated by the Fair, Issac Company... Each credit bureau can also generate its own credit score, such as the Experian Credit Score." https://www.creditexpert.com/creditexpert/creditmanager/019_402_am_crd_scoring.html It's not a FICO, it's a fake-o. For the Equifax (or, for that matter, the Experian) score, they could be using the auto industry-specific score. http://www.fairisaac.com/servlet/SiteDriver/Content/213 What are the names of the scores the lender has?
The scores they offer online are totally generic. Each creditor can order special scoring programs tailored to fit their individual needs. Mortgage, auto, signature, secured, unsecured. All will result in a different score depending on purpose of loan. SK
Sofa, If that is true. Maybe we should solicite responses from the posters here as to their scores from mtg., auto., etc. applications. As someone in the auto industry I know the scores I obtain everyday differ from the ones that come from other sorce's.
Only one I can comment about is Score Power, I pulled my report and hubby's the same day my lender pulled our reports for mortgage, matched exactly, but I didn't have access to EX/CE or TU, they weren't releasing them yet. But I have been having serious doubts about CE lately. But as they poster mentioned there are several scoring methods, I saw a few today while I was waiting at the credit bureau I was reading the pads and paperwork on her desk, I even heard her ask what score code or something to that effect, he wanted, I wanted to ask what she was referring to but then she would have known I was ease dropping LOL.
My better half applied for a small sig loan. Her CE score on that day was 642. The credit union pulled an Experian. It was 586 the same day. Talk about embarrasing! Since she had no unsecured loan tradelines, that accounted for the drop. They pulled the ole "unsecured tradeline" FICO score. The loan lady actually laughed when we showed her the CE score. She said no one gives scores to consumers. After I convinced her to go online right then and look she said "Wow, my son has been trying to find his score... Thanks!" So, I guess the CRAs are laughing all the way to the bank selling scores. I read somewhere Equifax recently had some 10,000,000 hits on their scoring site. SK
Re: INFO! Online scores aren't real If there are all these various scores for different loans then why does the myFico logo say "THE SCORES LENDERS USE." Check it out at myfico.com it's right there as plain as day. This is blatent misrepresentaton to the consumer. I'm so pissed at these people I don't know what to do. I held off for months on refinancing my car to get the 8% rate. The score I get is 652, the score the credit union gets is 620. So instead of getting 8% I get 13%. Anybody else out there listen to Tom Martino? He's my next contact. Mike
Re: INFO! Online scores aren't real After the credit union incident I emailed CE and asked why the huge difference. They didn't give me the courtesy of a reply, so I cancelled CE. Nice while it lasted! Got some inquiries deleted. SK
Re: INFO! Online scores aren't real It's best use is to get rid of inquiries Second use, keep track of accounts. Score = somewhat useless really. Mine was closer than not, but I think that was a fluke.
Re: INFO! Online scores aren't real Yes it is good for keep track of your accounts and their activity, and the inquiry removals are quite the amazement. However I have a feeling that will eventually get tougher, and it doesn't help when people are now trying to start disputing immediately following a denial, I know Experian is somewhat clueless in most departments but they will catch on to this one.
Re: INFO! Online scores aren't real Mike, I've brought this up twice before on this board. On two occasions I've pulled my Scorepower and compared it to a lender's report pulled within an hour of my report. All the info was exactly the same, but the scores were hugely different. Someone brought up the industry specific models - but for me I *know* the "model" used in my case was the same. At any rate - if the lenders get a customized credit score from Equifax, then Equifax should not be advertising that Scorepower, which you point out, is the score the lenders see. I've spent $50 on Scorepower. But after the last two reports showed huge discrepancies on the same days as the lenders reports, I chose to stop giving Equifax my hard earned money. I believe the same to be true for Credit Expert.
Re: INFO! Online scores aren't real By the way, Mike. My Scorepower on one day was 652 and the credit union pulled a Beacon at 617 thirty minutes later.
Re: INFO! Online scores aren't real ""By the way, Mike. My Scorepower on one day was 652 and the credit union pulled a Beacon at 617 thirty minutes later."" Well, I was thinking... it's in their (creditor) best interest for consumers to have the lowest score possible. So... who REALLY knows what's going on here! After all, we all know the banks don't make money on the prime borrowers. It's the sub-primers which puts the CEOs in their Beemers! SK
Re: INFO! Online scores aren't real This will continue to affect what we pay for credit and loans unless we scream loud and clear to the regulators and politicians and file lawsuits against FICO, the Credit Bureaus, and the creditors who are 'deflating' our scores and charging us more for loans. If you are someone who has evidence of this practice please file complaints, etc. FTC Attorney General of your state Senators Representatives OCC FDIC BBB your State Dept of Consumer Affairs and especially let THE MEDIA know what is going on! CNN MSNBC CBS ABC NY TIMES WASH Post Magazines local newspapers