Huge credit score diff- Credit Karma vs. Experian?

[mila]

I normally just check/monitor my credit on Credit Karma, but I decided to open an Experian account. My Experian account is 100+ point different than my CK one (Experian being higher by 100 pts). I was shocked at how different they were.

Is this normal? Which is more reputable?

[chimera]

Which methods are they using to calculate the scores and which scale are they using?

My Citi card score is always 50 points higher, but the scale on that one is also higher to 900. While Discover only goes to 850. they both use the Bankcard Score 8 model. Then Chase (850 max) which is usually pretty close to Discover uses Vantage Score 3.0 to determine the score. The bank we are using for our mortgage used another algorithm- I don’t have that sheet in front of me to check which one, but they varied by 20-30 points across the 3 credit agencies- they were 850 max.


Is something different on the reports they are pulling? Missing an account and throwing off ratios or one seeing an extra inquiry?

[mila]

Nothing is different b/w the reports. Experian's score model is FICO Score 8 (and uses 850 max), while CK uses Vantage Score 3.0 (but can't tell what is the max).

The # accounts on both are the exact same and all accounts match.

[pinkalicious]

According to the mortgage lenders I work with, credit karma scores are unreliable. It usually shows your score to be higher than it really is (ie I had a client that showed her credit karma score to be a 780, but when he pulled her credit, it was only a 740 or something like that).

[mila]

Jul 28, 2018 9:21:46 GMT -5 pinkalicious said:

According to the mortgage lenders I work with, credit karma scores are unreliable. It usually shows your score to be higher than it really is (ie I had a client that showed her credit karma score to be a 780, but when he pulled her credit, it was only a 740 or something like that).

I had read this, but my CK scores are much lower than Experian. It is so odd.

[pinkalicious]

Jul 28, 2018 9:45:02 GMT -5 mila said:

Jul 28, 2018 9:21:46 GMT -5 pinkalicious said:

According to the mortgage lenders I work with, credit karma scores are unreliable. It usually shows your score to be higher than it really is (ie I had a client that showed her credit karma score to be a 780, but when he pulled her credit, it was only a 740 or something like that).

I had read this, but my CK scores are much lower than Experian. It is so odd.

It’s very odd. I’d just be happy that the higher score is the more reliable score.

[megstoo]

credit karma for us is usually around 75 points lower for us.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Based on my experience with them (and Zillow) Credit Karma is the Zillow of credit scores. Sometimes they're really accurate, sometimes they're REALLY not. Think of CK as more of an "index" - if your CK score goes up, it's likely that your real scores have and vice versa. But it's not a "real" score and not necessarily reliable or accurate.