How do I get the other FICO scores?

[llecs]

'Tis true that lenders pull all 3 FICOs and take the middle as a basis for the rate, PMI, etc. They'll subscontract with an outside source to have a comprehensive tri-merge report. The most popular companies out there are Credco, CBCInnovis, and Kroll. These reports show report data for all 3 CRAs, spouse included if apping jointly, and FICO scores for each. The lender has discretion as to which FICO score they want to use, but much of it is directed by these tri-merge report providers. 

Within the section for your FICO scores, it'll specifically list which version of FICO score was being used. It'll say something like "Beacon 5.0" for EQ or "Fair Isaac Risk Score v2" for EX FICO. Definitely post back if you see anything other than Classic scores, or even anything FICO08-related. It's highly likely your EQ FICO from here will match your lender's EQ FICO if pulled the same day (scores can change daily). Your TU FICO could match, but it's unlikely. Most lenders use TU04; some still use TU98. The EX FICO would very likely match had Experian not done what they did by disallowing consumers to purchase their EX FICO.

BTW, if these lenders already pulled a report, you can ask those lenders to give the report to you right now. I think it's your right to get it now.

[Revelate]

FWIW lenders don't have a choice as to what version of FICO they use unless they want to keep the mortgage on their books... which nobody is doing right now with the exception of jumbo loans.

Until the GSE's say otherwise, the overwhelming majority, if not absolutely all, mortgage applications will be FICO '04 Classic.  The change will happen overnight if the GSE's agree to move to FICO '08 / mortgage industry option.

Thanks for posting that the mortgage enhanced option was new in '08, I didn't know that illecs.

[llecs]

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@Revelate wrote:

FWIW lenders don't have a choice as to what version of FICO they use unless they want to keep the mortgage on their books... which nobody is doing right now with the exception of jumbo loans.

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I think they do have a choice. I recall watching a webinar hosted at fico.com. The audience were lenders who were basically being sold on FICO08. The topic of conversation was mostly the issue of AUs (considered an issue at one point for FICO08) and whether or not it would be feasible to jump ship from a '04 version to '08. Most of the lenders expressed reservation in moving forward due to reluctance of FICO to exclude AUs to prevent piggybacking and also a reluctance to change due to the economy. I seem to recall a conversation with Barry about this as well, or mainly the process to jump from one version to another. FICO will take applicants' data (minus identifying info like names, SSNs, etc) and run simulators as a benefit for the lender so they can see whether or not a newer version is better for them or not in determining risk.

[Revelate]

Hrm, not to unilaterally disagree, but with the way the finance industry works, if you're planning on bundling up and selling the loans after 3 months (which pretty much everyone does) to the GSE's, then for qualification purposes your ducks have to be in a row.

The GSE's currently use FICO '04, and as such until that changes I don't really think the lenders have any choice but to continue using those specific ones until Fannie and Freddie decide differently... otherwise they can and possibly will simply reject the loan, and there's no lender that wants that.  Every mortgage originator has wrapped their arms around the GSE's, and that's even evidenced by the fact hardly anyone is doing jumbo loans currently, and you have to be gold plated and have 20+% down for those too: very limited pool of qualified buyers on that one.

[JonRun]

On the fact that the score the lender pulls will be less and they will use the middle score: could this be due to the fact that the hard inquiry to obtain your reports will lower your score? My lender pulled my scores and my score was 9 points less than my Equifax FICO score from here. After the hard inquiry hit, I got a ScoreWatch alert saying my score dropped by 9 points, due to the hard pull.

[Revelate]

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@JonRun wrote:
On the fact that the score the lender pulls will be less and they will use the middle score: could this be due to the fact that the hard inquiry to obtain your reports will lower your score? My lender pulled my scores and my score was 9 points less than my Equifax FICO score from here. After the hard inquiry hit, I got a ScoreWatch alert saying my score dropped by 9 points, due to the hard pull.

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Strange, it's not supposed to work like that I don't think but if their software implementation was screwy and they lodged the inquiry (which I don't know if it is fully automated or not or in what order) before pulling the report / score, that might do it.

I don't know of many other lenders that do that though, could be something random?  Was the MyFICO pull the same day as the lender pull?

[llecs]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@JonRun wrote:
On the fact that the score the lender pulls will be less and they will use the middle score: could this be due to the fact that the hard inquiry to obtain your reports will lower your score? My lender pulled my scores and my score was 9 points less than my Equifax FICO score from here. After the hard inquiry hit, I got a ScoreWatch alert saying my score dropped by 9 points, due to the hard pull.

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Strange, it's not supposed to work like that I don't think but if their software implementation was screwy and they lodged the inquiry (which I don't know if it is fully automated or not or in what order) before pulling the report / score, that might do it.

I don't know of many other lenders that do that though, could be something random?  Was the MyFICO pull the same day as the lender pull?

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Ditto to being something else. It might be old history to check, but mortgage, SL, and auto inquiries are duped together if pulled within a certain time frame as we know. As a built-in feature, FICO completely ignores that inquiry for the duration of that duplication window. It's this way so you can apply with Lender A and not see a lower score with Lender B if both pulled the same day (assuming there's be any ding for that inquiry). When I went for my mortgage, I pulled both FICOs daily I think. The angst was very high. I had been app-free for over a year leading up to the app and know that there could be a slight risk for a lowered score due to the mortgage app. There was no FICO change the day of and the day after the app. Exactly on the 30th day, EQ FICO dropped a few points with zero changes to the report. The drop was due to the inquiry leaving that window. On the 29th day, there were no inquiries impacting my score according to the FICO report, then the 30th day, there was one.

[JonRun]

The ScoreWatch alert said that my score drop was "most likely" due to the inquiry as no other information changed. I know that my score shouldn't change if I have any more mortgage related inquiries within a month of that one but it seems as though that one brought my score down. According to the lender, the score they got from Equifax was the same as the one on here after the drop.