Why is my FICO score different at each Credit Bureau?

That was one of the questions I was asked in November 1997 when I was interviewing for a position at FICO.

First, your FICO Score is developed using credit data from each of the three major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. FICO scores are built separately on each credit bureau’s data to account for data differences.  If there are some key differences in the data, these differences will be reflected in the scores.

Since the FICO score is built and calculated upon credit data, it would be helpful to know the source of this data.  Data supplied to the three credit bureaus comes from many sources such as credit grantors, collection agencies and public records. Most data is reported voluntarily and can be reported at different cycles or not at all. Credit grantors report payment information; collection agencies report accounts they are in the process of collecting. Credit bureaus purchase public record data from a company that compiles this information.  When a company reviews your credit report, a credit inquiry is placed on your credit report.

Key reasons for score differences

The key reasons FICO scores can vary at each bureau are: the credit data is not updated at the same time, the inquiry data differs, credit bureaus may not receive the same data, data structure and definition can vary, delinquency data is reported differently, and or balances may differ.

Credit data is not updated at the same time – Credit data can be loaded by the credit bureaus at different times of the month.  For example, Lender A may report to Credit Bureau A, B and C, but the credit bureaus don’t necessarily load and publish Lender A’s data at the same time of the month. So you can have the same exact lenders reporting to all three of the credit bureaus and still not have a 100% redundant credit report. This can result in the payment status and or balance to be different.

Inquiry data can differ at all three – Most lenders only pull one of your credit reports, rather than all three (mortgage is the exception to that rule), which means the number of hard inquiries is likely to be different at each credit bureau.

Not all receive the same data – An account may not be reported to all three credit bureaus. This is usually because the account may be local or refuses to report to all three.  If the missing account has negative data, the FICO score could be lower at this bureau than the other two and vice versa, if the missing data is positive.

Data structure and definition can vary –  How each credit bureau structures and defines the data contributed can differ. For example, one may report collections in the account section, while another reports it in the public record section or in both sections. The data can be double counted and have an impact on how the score is calculated.

Delinquency data can be reported differently – One credit bureau may only report negative information on a particular type of account, while another may report only positive information or another could report both. Obviously, this can have an impact on the score.

Balance information can differ – This depends upon when the data is reported.  Each credit bureau could receive or load the data at different points in time, so the balance information can differ.

FICO credit scores are dependent upon the credit report, so if the data is not the same and or not reported at the same time, the FICO scores will differ at each credit bureau.  The scores can fluctuate greatly, a little or not at all depending upon the type of data.

Credit Damage Expert, John Ulzheimer, is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a Contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.  He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry.  Follow him on Twitter here.

Categorised in: Credit Cards, Credit Report, Credit Score, Improving Credit, Money & Identity

This post was written by John Ulzheimer