You’re looking to be proactive with your credit repair and go and check your credit scores. You notice they are different between the credit reporting agencies. Is something wrong? Is there a reporting error? The truth is there are several reasons why your credit score can vary between the three reporting agencies. We’ll go over the different reasons your score may vary and what you can do if a score is way off compared to the other scores.  A good credit repair company can also make sure that your credit report information is reporting accurately among the three agencies.

The Most Common Reason

Usually, the reason your scores are different is because banks, creditors, and collection companies are not required to report to all three credit reporting agencies. Some creditors do not report at all. Typically, it’s smaller community banks that don’t bother reporting. Some collection companies may only report to one of the reporting agencies. This can result in two credit reports producing a high credit score, while the third one that’s being reported to has a much lower score.

Unfortunately, the opposite can happen. A creditor may report your good payment history to just one credit bureau, but not the other two. When this happens it does not help your score even though you’re doing what you should be doing to improve your credit.

Scoring Models

Another factor for having different scores is the influence of different scoring models. For example, there are many different FICO scoring models in use today. One may be used when purchasing a home; a different one when purchasing an auto, and a different one when applying for a credit card. FICO scores are based on several key factors including: Payment history, Revolving Account Credit Utilization, Age of Credit History, New Credit Inquires, and Mix of accounts (the varied the better).

The other popular model is the Vantage Score Model. VantageScore was introduced in 2006 when the three major credit reporting bureaus – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion – decided to offer FICO some competition. VantageScore looks at the same key factors as FICO as in Payment History, age of credit history, type of credit, credit utilization, total balances, inquiries, and available credit.

Which Score Matters?

At the end of the day, little differences between your reports are normal. The main thing to do is make sure your reports are accurate – no errors.  Your scores may be different, but they’re likely not that far off. If one is way off that should be an alarm to verify and check for errors. All of your scores matter, but don’t get worried if they’re all a little different.