Discrepancy between Lenders FiCO Score and FICO score on here???

[Anonymous]

Hi,

My pending Lender keeps telling me my FICO score is a sub 700 (693) but on here I have shown 705 for the past 3 months.  Does anyone know why this is?  Being below 700 is costing me a significant amount of interest on the loan I will most likely get.  Is this normal?  SHould I wait a month or two?

Any advice would be MUCH appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Is this your TU Fico score? If it is then check which version they are using - it may not be the same year as the one you can buy on this site

[Anonymous]

They said they just ran it this week.  You mean they would run a credit report from a past year?  Are the only 2 out there TU and Equifax?

[Anonymous]

Nope, there are three different companies that have a FICO score - Transunion (TU), Equifax (EQ) and Experian (EX) - you can buy your TU score and EQ scores from here - however there are different models for each as new generations of the scoring model are introduced.  The TU Fico score you can buy from here is a 98 model (i believe, someone will correct me if I am wrong) whereas some lenders use the 98 model and some use the 2004 model (just a slight change to the algorithm which can lead to a difference in the score)

You need to check which scores your LO pulled and which model it was of each so you can see if it is different than the ones that you obtain from this site (only TU and EQ can be purchased by individuals, EX stopped selling their scores to the public back in Feb)

Whatever scores they are they are still based on the information that is on your report as of today and you may want to check that nothing has changed from the previous reports that you have pulled.

[Anonymous]

The TU FICO score I can buy is 709. The mortgage company saw  TU FICO at 697.

It is different, but just slightly tweaked. And inline with my EQ which is 696 and EXP at 693.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

My pending Lender keeps telling me my FICO score is a sub 700 (693) but on here I have shown 705 for the past 3 months.  Does anyone know why this is?  Being below 700 is costing me a significant amount of interest on the loan I will most likely get.  Is this normal?  SHould I wait a month or two?

Any advice would be MUCH appreciated.

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It doesn't sound like your lender is doing a very good job of explaining how scores are used.

As mentioned above, the mortgage lender pulls three scores - each score is derived from the credit report data from each of the three credit bureaus. Then the lender uses the middle score to determine qualification and interest rate. When a lender refers to only one score, he is talking about your middle score.

You should ask your lender what all three of your scores are and which credit bureau each score is from. That way, you can review your credit reports associated with your middle score and your lowest score, to see if there is anything you can do to bump either score over 700.

Your 693 middle score could be from any of the three bureaus. Also, your lender's EQ or TU scores may be different from the scores you buy here at MyFico, if the scores were pulled on different days. In addition, as mentioned above, your lender's TU score may be different from the TU score you purchase from MyFico if the lender pulls a score based on the 2004 TU formula.

The "1998" and "2004" refer to different versions of the TU scoring model (similar to different software versions, like Office 2003 and Office 2007). The scores are still based on the current data in your credit report on the day the scores are pulled ...

[thrasher865]

There's also different varieties of scoring models.  For instance, there's a FICO model pertaining to auto loans, and I believe home loans.  Your lender could be using one of these models that us common folk don't even have access to.  I pulled my scores and they ranged from 724 to 793, but the three scores the lender showed me were 723 724 and 739.  Although there was a 2 week gap between when I pulled and when they pulled, but I dont think one inquiry would knock my score from 793 to 739.

Message Edited by thrasher865 on 06-26-2009 07:12 PM

[Anonymous]

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@thrasher865 wrote:
There's also different varieties of scoring models.  For instance, there's a FICO model pertaining to auto loans, and I believe home loans.  Your lender could be using one of these models that us common folk don't even have access to.  I pulled my scores and they ranged from 724 to 793, but the three scores the lender showed me were 723 724 and 739.  Although there was a 2 week gap between when I pulled and when they pulled, but I dont think one inquiry would knock my score from 793 to 739.

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A mortgage lender is not going to use an auto-enhanced scoring model. The models currently used by the vast majority of mortgage lenders are the so-called "classic" models. The only other "home-loan-specific" models are very new releases and will not be in common use for years, if at all.

Based on your scores, I would guess the matching 724 scores were EQ, and the discrepancy between the 793 and the 739 scores was partly because of the 2-week gap and partly because the lender was using a TU'04 score compared to your TU'98 score from MyFico. TU'04 scores are lower than TU'98 scores more often than not. Differences of 30 points are common, and differences of up to 60 points have been reported ...

[thrasher865]

I was not saying that a mortgage lender would use the auto loan scoring model, obviously.  Just stating that there may be home loan specific models.

[Anonymous]

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@thrasher865 wrote:
I was not saying that a mortgage lender would use the auto loan scoring model, obviously.  Just stating that there may be home loan specific models.

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TU '04 is not mortgage specific. It is an updated formula from the TU '98 that is available to us to purchase.

I am not aware of any mortgage specific FICO scores. Does anyone have a FICO link?