Ran yearly reports yesterday and my credit scores vary widely

[Dirk Squarejaw]

Yesterday, I ran my yearly credit reports and went ahead and bought my scores. Here is what I ended up with:

Experian- 657
Transunion- 721
Equifax- 751

The Transunion and Equifax seem close enough, but I can't figure out why the Experian score is so low compared to the other two. Any clues on what to check?

BTW, this is my first time posting in a long time. I've been rebuilding the past 2 years and using my new cards wisely and carrying a 10-12% balance on them and paying everything on time. This forum was a real help through all my dealings with bankruptcy.

[octoblonde]

Those are good scores! Is there something negative reporting on Experian but not the others, or conversely, is there something good reporting on TU and EQ but not Experian? Or maybe it's normal for Experian scores to be lower. I'm sure other members will chime in with more info.

[Amy26]

First, where did you get the scores? The experian score could be a "fako" and the others could be "ficos". myfico.com can give you your Equifax and TU ficos but its very difficult to get a hold of your Experian fico actually. Experian is the hardest report to clean up, I have found. So, you could very well have some IIB accounts reporting as charge offs or something.

I am actually quite impressed by those scores... hopefully mine will be that good in 6 months as well.

[Logan]

Yesterday, I ran my yearly credit reports and went ahead and bought my scores. Here is what I ended up with:

Experian- 657
Transunion- 721
Equifax- 751

The Transunion and Equifax seem close enough, but I can't figure out why the Experian score is so low compared to the other two. Any clues on what to check?

BTW, this is my first time posting in a long time. I've been rebuilding the past 2 years and using my new cards wisely and carrying a 10-12% balance on them and paying everything on time. This forum was a real help through all my dealings with bankruptcy.

When you apply for credit sometimes one bureau is pulled more than others. Is it possible that you have a bunch of inquires on Experian that don't show up on the others?

[thereshope]

When you apply for credit sometimes one bureau is pulled more than others. Is it possible that you have a bunch of inquires on Experian that don't show up on the others?

I noticed that on my Experian as well.

[IBroke]

My guess is the same as Amy's: The difference could be the source. Inquiries only make up about 10% of your score so a difference of almost 100 points based on that alone is VERY unlikely.

When I recently applied for credit to get my post discharge accounts, they pulled Equifax most of the time. The fico is still better than on TransUnion.