Difference in credit scores! :S

harlow19

Hi,

Just posting to see if anyone knows why I have such a big difference in credit score from Equifax and Experian? Reports from both companies are near enough identical with just differences in searches.

My credit score for Equifax is 424 which puts me in good on their scale. My credit score for Experian is 611 which puts me in poor. I have 3 years worth of up to date payments, one accidentally missed payment in February of 2013, high outstanding debt of 11.5k but 39% of total credit used, electoral roll for three years. Several live accounts and a few settled.

Any ideas why I have such a big difference? Is this common?

Cheers

matttye

Credit scores don't mean anything. Lenders don't get to see those scores and they will score you using their own internal systems, which they don't reveal.

Don't worry about those scores. They're a waste of money and literally don't tell you anything useful whatsoever.

It is the information in your credit reports you need to consider. Based on what you've said there aren't really any huge issues, depending on how much you earn.

JohalaReewi

harlow19 wrote: »

Just posting to see if anyone knows why I have such a big difference in credit score from Equifax and Experian? Reports from both companies are near enough identical with just differences in searches.

Is this common?

It is extremely common.
It is so common, this question should be a forum sticky.

The answer is that they are not credit scores.
They are just numbers made up by the different companies.

When you apply for credit, each lender you apply to will calculate a brand new credit score for you. The important thing to remember is that they will never tell you what your score was.

So you can see that the scores form the credit card agencies are not credit scores because:-
1. You are not applying for credit; and
2. They have told you what your score was.

InsideInsurance

harlow19 wrote: »

Just posting to see if anyone knows why I have such a big difference in credit score from Equifax and Experian? Reports from both companies are near enough identical with just differences in searches.

Because they have different scales, different rules and different methodologies.

The only similarities between the two is (1) selling your score to you makes them a lot of money (2) the score is seen by almost no one else

Cycrow

Everyone scores you different just as different lenders will use different criteria to score you, so do the credit agencies

Tessie_Balloon_Juice

My credit reports vary too. They don't all hold the same information about me either. Depending on which referencing agency you ask I'm either the world's most perfect borrower or the devil incarnate.

Before I knew that you could get a report for £2 I spent a small fortune on "credit scores" each as useless as the last.

I defy anyone to prove that they don't toss a coin to decide, then spend the rest of the day organising wheelie chair races around the office.

InsideInsurance

Tessie_Balloon_Juice wrote: »

I defy anyone to prove that they don't toss a coin to decide, then spend the rest of the day organising wheelie chair races around the office.

The score is calculated and is actually used, for insurers as an example, but for any "proper" lender they will have their own mechanism of scoring and this can be very different from the CRAs

Thrugelmir

Tessie_Balloon_Juice wrote: »

My credit reports vary too. They don't all hold the same information about me either.

That's because financial institutions, utility companies and mobile phone operators may only lodge their data with one CRA. When a request is made for your profile. The CRA making the request will update your record with information held on other CRA's files.

Tessie_Balloon_Juice

Thrugelmir wrote: »

That's because financial institutions, utility companies and mobile phone operators may only lodge their data with one CRA. When a request is made for your profile. The CRA making the request will update your record with information held on other CRA's files.

I don't think that's true. My reports have been very different for many months. There's nothing on any of my reports to suggest that these companies are cross referencing information to ensure accuracy.

I understand that many creditors only pass information to only one CRA. What I'm saying is there doesn't seem to be any consistency between the three and as the CRAs have such power over people's ability to get credit I think they have responsibility to ensure that they hold consistent, accurate information.

Experian_company_representative

The agencies all use different scales for their scores too, so you're comparing apples and pears. The Experian score uses the 0-999 range while Equifax is 0-600 I think.

James

somethingcorporate

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

The agencies all use different scales for their scores too, so you're comparing apples and pears. The Experian score uses the 0-999 range while Equifax is 0-600 I think.

James

You may as well measure it on the scale of lollipops and glowworms for all it means!