Understanding FICO® Scoring

[lndsk]

The bank that I am applying for a mortgage from sent me a letter with my fico scores, All three CRs said the some untrue  things about factors that adversely affected my score. They are all wrong.  Transunion said: (Too many inquiries in the last 12 months.) I have not applied for any credit except a preapproval letter last year so this is bogus.

Equifax said: (Proportion of balances to credit limits too high on revolving accounts and amount owed on revolving accounts too high). I pay off my credit card each month I have no balances, and I only have 3 credit cards and no other accounts. So they are not right at all.  My credit limits are in the high thousands and I never even get close to the limits. So this is all a lie.

Experian said: (Amount owed on accounts is too high).  This is impossible  because I don't owe anything at all except on a small mortgage.

I guess the lender will take my middle score, which is Equifax at 789. I don't see how they can say such untrue things.

[creditnocash]

whats your income? 

you say small morgatge? what is that?

and with a 789 middle score you should still qualify for the best rates (depending on who you go too)

do the reports show zero balances? 

[Dapper_Dan]

ha!  That's nothing.  I applied for a car loan in June 2012 and Bank of America denied me.  My score was low, but one of their resons, I kid you not, was:

"Year in which you took out your mortgage."

My mortgage was taken out in 2003.  The mortgage is current and I have equity.

Banks will never fail to surprise.

[GregB]

The reasons listed are almost certainly correct. The information is taken from the report.

If TU lists a negative of "Too many inquiries in the last 12 months" then you can pretty much count on finding some inquiries on that report. With a credit score around 800, this could easily be just one inquiry from your mortgage report. That just means at some point in the scoring algorithm that you scored worse than others and lost at least one point for that item.

If the others list balances on accounts, you can pretty much count on there being balances on some accounts. As with Inquiries, a reason hurting your score could be a fairly small balance that is only "hurting" your score by as little as one point. 

LOOK at the reports and see the data on them. I guarantee that you will find an Inquiry and reported balances on accounts.

The reasons listed are the most important reasons, even if they affect you score by virtually nothing. As your information is scored, it is helped or hurt by many factors. The system just keeps track of the factors that helped or hurt the most.