Questions/Problems with Pre-Approval AND FICO score is WAY off from Mortgage score...

[Anonymous]

I have been monitoring our TU Fico though myfico. We started out at the 600's and just this very day after removing some incorrect info and paying down cards the score that I just paid an additional $15 for stated it was 642...

I called the mortgage broker who is qualified to do an USDA loan (couldn't do direct because of income guidelines) and she tells me that the middle FICO is 613!!!! What is up with that?!!!!

Thats a HUGE difference and now we can't even get a pre-qual to put in an offer on our dream home...

Everything else is perfect. DTI is very very low stable job for 5yrs. perfect rental for 5yrs.. What gives... The other issue is she did a tri merge pull for the pre- approval and she is counting EVERY baddie on there even though they very from report to report. EQ is 722 TU is 613(but 642 on THIS website) and EX is 609...

The EQ is the correct report with nothing bad on it.

The TU which is the middle has:

3 collections all from2006 (but show up as just reporting since we had done a dispute on them)

14 PERFECT accounts in which 6 are open. UTI is about 30% on 2    and 1% on 2 and       80% on the last 2. 

1 bad account from 2008 that was FRAUDULENT with a $400 balance.

2 bad accounts from 2006 that are paid and closed.

The EX report has a Judgement that was supposed to be vacated from 2004...

So what gives? I know it's not perfect but it's not really bad like I have been hearing people get approved for..

Should I find another co to get a pre-approval or is it a lost cause because we are not at 620.. And even so HOW is it not at 620 let alone 642 like this website states?? Whats the point of looking up my fico score if it isn't correct.

Sorry to rant I'm just a tad upset that this is all falling through now.

OH and not only that but this loan officer who is supposed to be the BEST for USDA loans stated that there is not taking the middle score they take in account ALL the bad things and combine them.. Which really makes it bad for us because there are different baddies on EX vs TU... so if you take that into account it seems like there is a lot of bad things instead of just 5 pretty old collections..

I thought they take the middle score always??

Also I've been a NFCU member for a few yrs would they pull a pre-approval with just EQ like they do everything else? Would I have a better chance going through them instead even though I can't do USDA?

I really need the best and fastest way to get a pre-approval so I can put this offer down.. I don't want to loose this house.

[Anonymous]

TU uses a different FICO scoring model than myfico.com.  They are both FICO scores but one is a newer version (the one TU uses)

As far as the LO's comments, what they are meaning is that for hitting FICO minimums they use the middle score, but for determineing DTI and for checking for bad accounts or liabilities they DO use all 3 reports.  SO the trimerge will show them all three FICO scores, as well as what accounts are showing on what report.  So if there are items on the lowest FICO score, they will be counted as well for DTI/approval.  Unfortunately, it does not work in reverse.  Though they may count stuff off the lowest score, it is not like you get bonus points for the higher score.  The idea is that the middle score is likely to be the most honest one.  It is most likley to not only contain less errors, but also less likely to have had correct information not showing (i.e people disputing accurate info to see if they can get them removed).

So, bottom line, the LO is right.  You need to get the other score up to 620 (and I would really say 640 because they will rescore you right before close and at this point you will likely see a dip when the inquiry for the recent app hits you (it does not count towards score for 30 days...)  So in about 30 days you will likely loose 5-10 points unless something in your file offsets it.

You guys need to work on the fraud stuff and get it removed.  If the judgement is not showing paid, then no matter what, you will have to pay it or get it removed.  They will not allow anyone with an active judgement.