Can somebody ‘splain this to me?

[Thumper]

I do my best to monitor my credit scores and my credit rating is very important to me. I’ve spent my whole life with the attitude that I pay my bills first and if there’s enough left over, I eat. And trust me, there have been a few times in my life, I really wasn’t sure I’d be able to eat!

But one thing has always baffled me. I know there are various credit reporting agencies and some use different methods to figure your score, but how can the SAME company show DIFFERENT scores at the same time?

I know I may be splitting hairs here with what my scores are, because if I were say …. purchasing a new car, the variance in my scores wouldn’t make a difference. But I could imagine if someone were right on the fence, one score might pass for a loan, but another score may disqualify someone, or possibly throw them into a higher interest rate. What good are they if they’re not consistent?

Example, mine will go up a bit next week. Why? Because I charge most everything to my AmEx (including many monthly auto-pay bills). I pay the balance monthly and my score consistently drops as the balance goes up, but once I pay the balance, my score pops back up, then the cycle repeats. My AmEx bill will be paid off next week and my score will jump back up. My main question is, why the discrepancy between scores from the same agency?

(These screen shots were all taken within minutes of each other. Two are FICO scores, why wouldn’t they match?)

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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230207/1c168bf623faf66925f8ee1d8a1c9c97.jpg

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[BarryBobPosthole]

I don't pretend to know anything about any of it. But I've heard that if you check your credit score it can somehow affect your credit score. Maybe you're constant futzing around with it has made it change when you go check it on the second site.

ps.....my birthday is in august.

BKB

[Thumper]

No sir, these are not hard hits. You can check as many times as you want through your financial institution. If you go to finance something (say a new boat), the dealer will run a hard hit, many times multiple hits while trying to find the best rate. If they’re done close to each other (I think a week or so), it’ll only register as one hit since it’s obvious you’re shopping rates.

The stupid thing (imho) is, I paid my house off after 30 years of never missing a payment, and my credit rating DROPPED! When I paid off a second mortgage, it dropped again. I bought a $150,000 frigging motorhome, and it jumped up! Even though I’m retired, living on Social Security and Lynn hasn’t had a paycheck in 2-1/2 years. (She turns 65 this week and will go on Social Security).

We’ve been spending our savings and Biden has been spending our IRA. It seems we’d be a slight credit risk.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Your on your own, pilgrim! I've just used the scintilla of knowledge I have on the topic.

BKB

[Thumper]

I thought the financial gurus on this site could maybe ‘splain it to me. Makes no sense to me.

[Trav]

Might be as simple as they all pull the data on different days.

[Trav]

Also Fico is a composite and those reports are based on 3 different sources, one says Exprian, one says TransUnion and one says VantageScore.

[jb]

Thump, my CS is like yours, usually around 835-840, it based on 5 CC and a car loan.
Problem is 3 of the CC's are at least 25years old and have not been used in 20 years, but they still appear on my CS as up to date with 0 balance.
I took out a 3 year l0K loan on my new Lincoln for .09% interest only to help with my CS, payment are deducted from my Checking Account each month, CS likes that.
I recently had my CS drop about 8 points because it showed one of my CC had been canceled, but in fact it was canceled because of a couple of fraudulent charges, new replacement showed up a week later and as soon as I used it my score went back up to where it's always been.
I read my CS each month through Credit Karma and if I look it shows the % of what my charges are based on how much credit I have. The higher the % the better the score. I do not carry over any charges, can't figure it out.
When I did take out the loan the Dealership Loan Officer did mention the I have one of the highest CS that's she's seen in a long time.

[Thumper]

Yeah Bubba, my usual salesman retired last year and we bought the new Highlander in November (Black Friday). I tried a new salesman this time (I think he sucked), but when he went back to F&I to run a credit check, he came back and said it’s the highest he’s ever seen. I find that hard to believe, but I don’t know what the average is. I do know my BIL (who’s a multi-millionaire) keeps his at 850 (the highest possible), but as I said, he doesn’t have to worry about finances.

It’s Greek to me, I just try the best I can under the circumstances.

Yeah Trav, the first one and the third one are both Experian, but there’s an eleven point difference. Those scores were from this weekend, but I just checked today and there’s no difference. I guess I just don’t understand why there should be a variance. I’m not too worried about it, just curious how all this works. I once went through and cancelled a bunch of old credit cards I hadn’t used in years and my scores went right into the toilet. That right there makes no sense at all to me. It seems the farther you stretch your neck out financially, the more the credit bureaus like it. Seems bassackwards to me.

[Trav]

I assume somebody with a lot of financial liabilities who always pays on time is a better bet than someone who doesn’t have as much financial liabilities but has unknown track record for paying on time.

[Hombre]

Different question on this topic. Does having an 800 CS have many if any benefit from having a 700? I really haven't tried to build better credit since its above 750, and never had trouble getting a loan. With that said I haven't really tried to get a loan on anything but a house in the last 10 years.

[Thumper]

Hombre, I had a friend in California whose job application was turned down due to a low credit score. I don’t remember what job he’d applied for, but he was told that if he couldn’t do a good job of managing his finances, there was the possibility he’d also be inept at his job. I’ve heard (but not witnessed personally), that some prospective employers will not hire those with poor scores. The thinking was, supposedly, if they are in a financial bind, they may be tempted to steal from the company or commit some sort of fraud.

I also had (still have actually) a friend who wanted to change insurance companies, but was turned down due to a low credit score.

If trying to rent an apartment or house, one will many times be turned down for bad credit, or another potential renter/buyer with better credit will be accepted instead.

Of course there’s the obvious, hard to get credit or if you get credit, you get sucky interest rates. Same with any financing actually. Also, credit card companies will not be adding benefits such as travel miles, etc. in some instances. I guess there are a ton of disadvantages to having bad credit.

[Trav]

I know at my bank a higher credit score gets you a lower rate on Auto Loans but how much lower I don’t know.

[Hombre]

I think what you guys are talking about though is 700 and below. I don't think there is much difference in a 750 and an 850 but I could be wrong.

[Thumper]

Yeah Hombre, I have no clue actually. All I know is higher is better, so I work at it.