Lender Pull WAY lower than here!

[Mellochick]

Just wanted to give everyone my experience yesterday. I have been working on getting my credit up over the past few months. I disputed a ton of items and a lot was changed thankfully. According the MyFico here, my score went from a 501 clear up to a 557 as of the other day. Well I thought according to this site that my score was above the lender's minimum score so I let her pull credit. Well wouldn't ya know that the score she pulled was only a 509. A 48 point difference LOWER than what this site has been telling me! I get that its not even a 50 point difference yet but from a 557 when really it's only a 509!! I was floored and crushed that I've been paying for Score Watch for 4 months now for basically no reason. I feel played and I cancelled my subscription this morning since now I don't have any debt on my report other than my car loan that I pay on time monthly and my student loan that is defered now. I feel like having my account here was a waste of time and money!

[StartingOver10]

Mellochick, the issue you have is that you only have installment accounts (car and student loans). You need revolving accounts to be in good standing to increase your score. 1 card or 2 at the most ought to do it. I think your search for a mortgage was premature. We talk a lot on this board about how the scores we see are entirely different than the ones that are pulled by the lenders for auto loans and mortgages.

[fishbjc]

It depends on the version they use.  YMMV

Get a secured card and let it report and age.  Spend and pay.  Let it report to 9% of it's limit.  Do a search and find out which cards will unsecure after six months or one year.

Try a Credit Union.

Installment accounts are just a small part of the score process.  You need a revolving account. 

[fishbjc]

My DH had a 555 at one time.  He basically had to start from scratch.  It took time, lots of it....and patience, but he's almost at 700.  You CAN do it too!

[Mellochick]

I am fortunate enough to have found a lender who is working with us as long as our middle scores are 530. We just have to dispute some other items on Transunion and Experian that are still reporting which were deleted from Equifax. So in about 30 days, we should be good. We are just stunned that we've been paying for these services and it really hasn't helped at all. about $300 down the drain.

[ezdriver]

Just a personal comment on the purchase of credit scroe watch/alert services. I consider all of them to be a total waste of money ... unless you just want to be humored. Also, there seem to be an obsession about credit score vs credit profile. Good, solid advice is offered here,on these two topics, on a regular basis. Adopt some of them that fit your situation and all will be well ... in time. All the best to us rebuilders!

[Mellochick]

We have done a lot of rebuilding. We haven't taken out any new credit which is our last step but afraid to do it in case it drops our scores. We have disputed so many things that were paid off or were not able to be collected on anymore. Had quite a few things deleted or charged off. Consolidated all my federal student loans so they are all showing paid off and only two bigger loans now. Have a car payment with on time monthly payments. Only thing left in collections is a judgement (will be paid this week), a few medical collections, three small collections under $200 that will be paid in the next month, and one other collection that I am now making payments on. It's crazy to think that 6 months ago, I was considering filing for bankruptcy. Glad I decided to dispute stuff instead. Has helped me SUBSTANTIALLY in the long run since these things were all 6-7 years old and about to fall off credit anyways! Just takes time and patience.

[StartingOver10]

Most of the lenders will require the disputes to be removed so they can see your 'true' score.

Since the scores are most influenced by revolving cc accounts and only a small portion of the score is due to installment loans it explains why you are not seeing the numbers recover quickly.

I agree with you about the monitoring service - it is a waste of money unless you are looking for some specific event over a short period of time,

Get the secured card that EZ references and you will see a jump in score.

In the meantime - read about lenders requiring disputes to be removed here in this forum. It is a frequent request.

[meehan22]

I personally like ScoreWatch, it gives me an idea of what direction my score is going. I already know my local CU pulls about 20 points higher since they are using an older version of Fico than the one on here that just got updated. Its a usefull tool.

Before applying for credit if your borderline it wouldn't hurt to ask what fico version they use to compare before doing a hard pull.

[sghosh5]

This has been talked multiple times here on this forum. All three credit scores we get on MyFICO are upgraded to FICO 08 version. Most of the lenders pull FICO 04. Usually FICO 08 is higher if your credit card utilization are really low. For me, my FICO 04 TU score is just 2 or 3 points lower than TU08. EQ 04 is about 20 points higher than 08 version. I wouldn't say they are completely waste of money if your scores are around 700 or so. It will give you an idea. But for a score of 550 or lower, first you need to get any negatives removed (if you have any) and get more revolving accounts on your report.