A: As a general matter, no one credit bureau report is “more important” than the others. In today's economic environment, they are all vitally critical to your personal finances.
Your Equifax credit score is more likely to appear lower than your TransUnion one because of the reporting differences, but a “fair” score from TransUnion is typically “fair” across the board.
Is TransUnion more important than Equifax? The short answer is no. Both TransUnion and Equifax are reliable credit reporting agencies that compile reports and calculate your credit scores using different scoring models.
An Equifax credit score isn't used by lenders or creditors to assess a consumers' creditworthiness. Instead, many lenders use FICO Scores® to help determine a potential borrower's creditworthiness. FICO uses credit scores from the three reporting agencies, including Equifax and Transunion, to determine their score.
Which Credit Bureau has the Lowest Score? The credit bureau that gives the lowest FICO or Vantage score tends to be the one that lenders use the most in your geographic area. Lenders typically slice the pie (between Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) at the three-digit zip code level.
TransUnion is Accurate, But May Conflict With Other Scores
Unfortunately, errors can happen from time to time. FICO and VantageScore both use a range of 300 to 850 to categorize credit scores.
While both TransUnion and Experian have some similarities, Experian offers a more robust suite of consumer services. It also reveals your FICO Score 8—the score most lenders use—which can give you a better idea of what lenders see than the VantageScore that TransUnion provides.
Payment History – this is the most important and accounts for 35% of your FICO 8 Score. One late payment can have a negative impact to your score.
Because there are varied scoring models, you'll likely have different scores from different providers. Lenders use many different types of credit scores to make lending decisions. The score you see when you check it may not be the same as the one used by your lender.
This is mainly because of two reasons: For one, lenders may pull your credit from different credit bureaus, whether it is Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. Your score can then differ based on what bureau your credit report is pulled from since they don't all receive the same information about your credit accounts.
This is due to a variety of factors, such as the many different credit score brands, score variations and score generations in commercial use at any given time. These factors are likely to yield different credit scores, even if your credit reports are identical across the three credit bureaus—which is also unusual.
There are three credit agencies: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. When you apply for a loan, request an increase on your credit limit or even apply for a new job, your credit report will likely come into play.
They are Experian, Equifax and CIBIL. CIBIL is quite popular as it has been in the business for a long time. Non-Banking Financial Companies and banks use the credit score provided by CIBIL, Experian and Equifax to determine the potential risk of lending to a customer.
The middle credit score is most significant when buying a house because mortgage companies ignore the highest and lowest number provided by Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
As you can see in the chart below, a Good credit score under the VantageScore model (typically used by TransUnion and Equifax) falls between 700 and 749. Similarly, a good credit score under the FICO Score model falls between 670 and 739. Source: By these guidelines, yes —a 700 score would be considered a Good score.
Credit Karma touts that it will always be free to the consumers who use its website or mobile app. But how accurate is Credit Karma? In some cases, as seen in an example below, Credit Karma may be off by 20 to 25 points.
While Experian and Equifax are the most popular bureaus among auto lenders and car dealers, TransUnion can also be used for auto loan decisions.
The credit scores and reports you see on Credit Karma should accurately reflect your credit information as reported by those bureaus. This means a couple of things: The scores we provide are actual credit scores pulled from two of the major consumer credit bureaus, not just estimates of your credit rating.
Is TransUnion legit? TransUnion is one of the three major credit bureaus, and it has a strong reputation for providing reliable, consistent credit scores. It offers credit monitoring services, fraud alerts, identity theft protection and other useful services to help consumers maximize their credit.
Auto dealerships use the FICO credit bureau, which stands for Fair Isaac Corporation. They also use the FICO Auto Credit Score, which has a range of 250 to 900. This may mean that an auto dealer has a different credit score for you than the one you see on your personal credit report.
And if you're hoping to score a 0% APR car loan, you'll likely need a very good or exceptional FICO® Score☉ , which means a score of 740 or above. Before you start shopping for a new vehicle, take some time to check your credit score to see where you stand.
The recommended credit score needed to buy a car is 660 and above. This will typically guarantee interest rates under 6%.