Experian

Is Experians score based on the same formula as the Beacon & FICO score. Do mortgage companys look at all three scores as having the same weight. I have 701 at Equifax, 714 at Transunion, and 718 at Experian. What kind of Mortgage rate could I expect. I might add that when I tried to get the 30 day free trial at Experian on the Internet I got a message to call. They told me my file was to large to download to try the one time pay. So for $14.95 I got my report. One time only but they gave me the opportunity to subscribe to Credit Manager which is the 30 day free trial that wouldn't download my file because it was to large.

This is really bizarre - I've never heard of a file being too large for Credit Manager, and why would it work after you paid?

The Experian score is like TU's - no lender uses it - 100% snake oil. I don't know of a way to get the Fair Isaac "FICO" score for Experian other than from a broker.

Also keep in mind that there are several VERSIONS of the Fair Isaac scores, I've read that there can be 20+ point differences from one Beacon score to the next. Just like with any software, they come up with "new and exciting upgrades." So which score you get depends on which release of the software that particular lender or mortgage credit reporting company is using.

You should get some of the best mortgage rates, although for *some* Home equity lines the best fixed rates are for 750+ scores, 720 is another popular cutoff.

Lenders have varying score requirements for different loan programs. Both the minimum scores vary as well as which scores are required. Sometimes they average, sometimes they look only for one bureau's score, sometimes it's the best 2 out of the 3 ....

Though nobody really uses this score, here is what Experian said about my question regarding a collection account that showed up three times on my report. I wonder how much of this formula is also used in FICO scoring. Anyway, it may have some useful information for others, so I am posting it here. I found it interesting.

QUESTION:
If a collection account is listed more than once on my report, does that drive down my score any more than if it was listed only once?

ANSWER:
Thank you for contacting Scorecard Customer Service:
More than likely the score will be affected by both the collection items being listed on the credit report.

We understand your concern and confusion concerning the credit scoring system.

Credit scores were developed to assist lenders and consumers equally.

Credit scores help eliminate all these problems.

A credit score takes less than a second to calculate and the lender can instantly use the credit score to make a decision.
This allows lenders to approve more and more consumers in a very rapid fashion.
The lender can establish a credit score cutoff that ensures that all applicants are treated consistently. The credit score is
not biased by any external factors and results in an objective decision.
The credit score is the tool that allows the lending institution to closely monitor its loan approval policies.

Ultimately, the credit score allows lenders to make faster, easier decisions.

It is important to note that not all lenders rely solely on the credit score to make their decision. Some will also look at the
applicant's capacity to pay, collateral, as will as other elements of the applicant's character, which is your honesty and reliability
to repay a debt according to your past credit history.

The Experian credit score generally will reward consumers with a long, stable, and diverse credit history and will penalize those
with a short credit history. Here are some examples:

Older accounts = raises score
Presence of real estate accounts = raises score
Presence of bankcard, revolving, and retail accounts = raises score
Presence of installment loans and loan finance accounts = lowers score

Total debt affects the Experian score because those consumers with a high level of debt are less likely to be able to pay all their
bills on time. Here are some examples:

Higher total balance = lowers score
Higher average balance = lowers score
Higher credit limits = raises score
Higher utilization (credit to limit ration) = lowers score

Finally, the number of inquiries lower the Experian credit score as it indicates that the consumer is shopping for new credit and
is likely to take on additional debt.

More inquiries = lowers score
Recent inquiries (last 3-6 months) = lowers score


We hope this additional information is helpful, if we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Your Experian Scorecard Team
www.scorecard.experian.com

Thanks, I'd like to use that in my law suit. Can you provide me with the e-mail address where you got that or even better, how do I get them to send this to me?

Email address is scorecardcustomerservice@experian.com

The question I asked, and the full text is all in the above message. I did NO editing.

The troubling thing I find is the mail server that Experian is forwarding their informatin through "Received: from [10.1.5.250] by mail.scorecard.encoremarketing.com"

Encore Marketing is in Maryland. Does Experian own them? They appear to be up-stream from Experian (meaning connections to the Experian website and mail serves goes through them). Experian.com received my mail via the address above, and their response came from a mail server on EncoreMarketing.com (mail.scorecard.encoremarketing.com to be exact). Does the Experian Scorecard get generated by Encore Marketing? Be careful Christine, this may be intentional by Experian to get you to sue the wrong party. Needs further investigating. It appears it was answered by Experian, and handed off to this other email server for delivery. I'll let you know.

Is anybody else troubled by this? I'm gonna go email the Experian techie in the morning and see I can get an answer or be directed to someone of intelligence at Experian. I've also listed the whois for Encore Marketing - I'll give them a shot too, and ask some mail server admins that I know to track it down. This could get interesting.

Here is the Experian whois query which lists a phone & fax number and email address for the EXP techies.

Christine, I Hope this is useful to you.
-----------------------------
Registrant:
Experian Information Solutions Inc. (EXPERIAN2-DOM)
505 City Parkway West
Orange
CA,92868
US

Domain Name: EXPERIAN.COM

Administrative Contact:
EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS INC. (K8322-OR) gary.crowell@experian.com
EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS INC.
505 CITY PKWY W
ORANGE, CA 92868-2912
US
972 390 3442 fax: 972 390 3400
Technical Contact:
Crowell, Gary (GC7682) gary.crowell@EXPERIAN.COM
Experian Information Solutions Inc
601 Experian Parkway
Allen, TX 75013
972-390-3442 (FAX) 972-390-3400

Record expires on 29-Oct-2010.
Record created on 28-Oct-1996.
Database last updated on 5-Mar-2003 03:46:26 EST.
--------------------------
Encore Marketing International, Inc. (EMITRAVEL-DOM)
4501 Forbes Boulevard
null
US

Domain Name: EMITRAVEL.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Thompson, Chuck (CT3826) cthompson@ENCOREMARKETING.COM
Encore Marketing International, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard
Lanham, MD 20706-4326
301.459.8020 x2142 (FAX) 301.731.5168

Record expires on 15-Mar-2006.
Record created on 14-Mar-1996.
Database last updated on 5-Mar-2003 03:45:38 EST.

Domain servers in listed order:

PEABODY.EMITRAVEL.COM 12.29.164.67
CMTU.MT.NS.ELS-GMS.ATT.NET 12.127.16.69
CBRU.BR.NS.ELS-GMS.ATT.NET 199.191.128.105

Just sent this to the techie.


Gary,

I sent a question to scorecardcustomerservice@experian.com and received a response from a mail server which does not appear to be yours "mail.scorecard.encoremarketing.com"

Your scorecard department answered my questions satisfactorily, but I am a little concerned that maybe it was not Experian that answered my question, but rather some un-trusted source.

In your opinion, can this email I received be trusted as it is from Experian - and I can ease my concerns? Is there a relationship between you and this other mail server?

Thank you,
Brian Brooks


My entire email header is as follows:
<snip>


Let's see if they respond.

This came actually from Experian servers.

Brian,

Encore Marketing is one of Experian's business partners.
They process the requests on our behalf for the
ScoreCard service.

You may trust mail from this server.

Postmaster
Experian, North America

Please note the phrase "on our behalf" in their response. This is an important admission.