Mortgage Rate Shopping

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I've been looking to buy a house for the last month. As part of this process I shopped for mortgage rates with three different lenders. At the start of this process, my Experian FICO was 760+. Once the inquiries hit my record, my FICO dropped to 723. Nothing else appeared on my record during this time. Calling the credit bureaus was pointless. Despite the inquiries being clearly labeled as mortgage related and having occurred within a two week period, they refuse to correct my score. This is very frustrating. I was under the impression that one could rate shop within a certain amount of time and it wouldn't be held against you. 

As as a result of this absurdity my current lender has changed terms, requiring additional funds to secure the deal. Is there any way to solve this and have these inquiries ignored or removed? It seems like a rigged system.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello all,

I've been looking to buy a house for the last month. As part of this process I shopped for mortgage rates with three different lenders. At the start of this process, my Experian FICO was 760+. Once the inquiries hit my record, my FICO dropped to 723. Nothing else appeared on my record during this time. Calling the credit bureaus was pointless. Despite the inquiries being clearly labeled as mortgage related and having occurred within a two week period, they refuse to correct my score. This is very frustrating. I was under the impression that one could rate shop within a certain amount of time and it wouldn't be held against you. 

As as a result of this absurdity my current lender has changed terms, requiring additional funds to secure the deal. Is there any way to solve this and have these inquiries ignored or removed? It seems like a rigged system.

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Welcome to the forums.  Any inquiry, whether mortgage related or not affects your credit scores.  Mortgage inquiries like auto ones will be scored by Fico as only one inquiry if done in a short period of time.  Nonetheless one inquiry can  and most often does still lower your credit score.  It's also entirely possible that something else in your file that you are unaware of caused part of the drop.  Where are you getting that Fico score from for Experian?  Most mortgage lenders us the e Fico 04 model and that is only available for you to see if you purchase a new report here at MyFico.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Welcome to the forums.  Any inquiry, whether mortgage related or not affects your credit scores.  Mortgage inquiries like auto ones will be scored by Fico as only one inquiry if done in a short period of time.  Nonetheless one inquiry can  and most often does still lower your credit score.  It's also entirely possible that something else in your file that you are unaware of caused part of the drop.  Where are you getting that Fico score from for Experian?  Most mortgage lenders us the e Fico 04 model and that is only available for you to see if you purchase a new report here at MyFico.

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Hey Irish,

Thanks for the response.

While logged in to Experian, I cannot tell which FICO model it's using. However, it aligns with my FICO8 Experian score that I see here on myFICO.

I do see a FICO4 under my myFICO Transunion report.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Welcome to the forums.  Any inquiry, whether mortgage related or not affects your credit scores.  Mortgage inquiries like auto ones will be scored by Fico as only one inquiry if done in a short period of time.  Nonetheless one inquiry can  and most often does still lower your credit score.  It's also entirely possible that something else in your file that you are unaware of caused part of the drop.  Where are you getting that Fico score from for Experian?  Most mortgage lenders us the e Fico 04 model and that is only available for you to see if you purchase a new report here at MyFico.

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Hey Irish,

Thanks for the response.

While logged in to Experian, I cannot tell which FICO model it's using. However, it aligns with my FICO8 Experian score that I see here on myFICO.

I do see a FICO4 under my myFICO Transunion report.

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Yeah the Experian score you are getting is the Fico 08 model.  The TU 04 model is probably close to your Experian 04 but you never know without getting that one as well.  There can be and often is quite a big difference between the Fico 08 scores and the Fico 04 ones.  Verify with your lender what they are using.  I'm certainly not a mortgage expert (we have some here in the mortgage section) but I was under the impression that mortgage lenders took the middle score of the three reports.  It sucks that your score drop has caused a change  in your required upfront money but I'm not 100% sure that your inquiries caused a 37 point drop.    I wish I could give you advice but this is beyond my level of expertise.  If you want suggestions about what options you might have I'd suggest posting in the mortgage forum.  Good luck with the finalization of your mortgage and most importantly enjoy your new home.