Determining credit score

lbonga1

I have an account with Credit Karma, where I've been keeping track of my credit score as I've paid off debt. The two scores provided there (from TransUnion and Equifax) have about a 30 point difference between them. Also, for one of my Chase cards, it provides my credit score from Experian, and that one shows 40 points lower than the lowest one on Credit Karma! That one hasn't been updated in almost a month though, so it probably went up after I made a credit card payment this month. But still, why does it seem like it's so all over the map, and which one should I be focusing on? The average?

simplyelise

They each have their own proprietary formulas for determining credit score. If they were all identical, they wouldn't have any market value. For mortgages, they use your middle credit score. I would just look at the credit karma page where they tell how you specifically could improve your score and just keep working that. 

short+sassy

simplyelise said:

They each have their own proprietary formulas for determining credit score. If they were all identical, they wouldn't have any market value. For mortgages, they use your middle credit score. I would just look at the credit karma page where they tell how you specifically could improve your score and just keep working that. 

Above is very true!  I've also found that, if I look closely at my Credit Karma info for the two agencies they have, there are usually discrepancies in the two reports.  For example, Transunion might have a CC balance that is 3 months old while Equifax has a more current updated balance.  Or vice versa.

jtmh2012

simplyelise said:

They each have their own proprietary formulas for determining credit score. If they were all identical, they wouldn't have any market value. For mortgages, they use your middle credit score. I would just look at the credit karma page where they tell how you specifically could improve your score and just keep working that. 

I was told they use an average, but that may vary by bank.  But the advice still holds.  The only score that matters is what the bank, auto loan, etc companies pull when they do their pull from whomever they pull it from.  So don't worry about the number per se.  Just look at the items on your report and see what you can do to improve them (pay off balances, pay on time and in full, etc).

short+sassy

jtmh2012 said:

simplyelise said:

They each have their own proprietary formulas for determining credit score. If they were all identical, they wouldn't have any market value. For mortgages, they use your middle credit score. I would just look at the credit karma page where they tell how you specifically could improve your score and just keep working that. 

I was told they use an average, but that may vary by bank.  But the advice still holds.  The only score that matters is what the bank, auto loan, etc companies pull when they do their pull from whomever they pull it from.  So don't worry about the number per se.  Just look at the items on your report and see what you can do to improve them (pay off balances, pay on time and in full, etc).

I've had some banks tell me they take an average and some banks tell me they take the middle score.