topic Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS in Mortgage Loans

HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

GrillMasterTake2 — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 17:13:28 GMT

Good afternoon fellow MyFico'ers!

Formerly griallandwinemaster, until myfico made me create a new profile!! 😢

Simple question, for a HELOC or a Home Equity Loan, which score versions do most Banks usually pull??

I know for a mortgage it's 5/4/2, but this would be for tapping into equity on a home with NO current mortgage. Do banks still use 5/4/2 score versions??

Thank you for your input! Very much appreciated!!

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

ShanetheMortgageMan — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 17:25:21 GMT

It's lender-specific, but I've found most still use 5/4/2's but there are many that use FICO 8's now, and often just a single bureau instead of a tri-merge.

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

GrillMasterTake2 — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 17:56:59 GMT

Thank you Sir! Appreciate the feedback. Looks like I need to find a bank/lender that uses middle 5/4/2 scores. I'm liking that 790 middle mortgage score!

Is there any appreciable difference between the 790 middle vs Equifax 761 ver 8? Thank you again, Shane.

Current FICO 8 scores:

Equifax 761

TUnion 748

Experian 730

Current 5/4/2 Scores:

Equifax 791

TUnion 777

Experian 790

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

Thomas_Thumb — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:09:46 GMT

Isn't the benchmark for best home equity loan rates still a 760 score or has it increased to 780?

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

ShanetheMortgageMan — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:14:19 GMT

@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
Isn't the benchmark for best home equity loan rates still a 760 score or has it increased to 780?

It'll vary by lender, but a lot of them have a 780+ credit score pricing tier and even a few even have an 800+.

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

Thomas_Thumb — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:09:54 GMT

Good to know.

For S&G I checked an on-line search engine. The top input tier it offered for credit score was 780-850. The input tier options were:

1. 780-850

2. 760-779

3. 740-759

4. 720-739

5. 700-719

6. 680-699

7. 660-679

8. 640-659

9. 620-639

10. <620

That's more granularity in credit score tiers for interest rate shopping than I anticipated.

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

nuriyakaila — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 10:02:33 GMT

Yeah, most lenders don’t stick to 5/4/2 for HELOCs - they’ll often use a more current score version. In my experience, they care more about your overall profile than the exact score model.

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

Have1 — Mon, 25 May 2026 17:19:24 GMT

I am in the process of getting a Home Equity Loan from Navy Federal and they pulled my FICO 10 from Equifax. So, there's that.

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

GrillMasterTake2 — Mon, 25 May 2026 18:23:25 GMT

Fico 10!?! How about that! It's my understanding a few lenders are "migrating" over to the Fico 10 version. At the moment, my scores favor the Fico 8, and are strongest on Fico 5/4/2 versions.

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

Have1 — Tue, 26 May 2026 07:54:34 GMT

@GrillMasterTake2 wrote:
Fico 10!?! How about that! It's my understanding a few lenders are "migrating" over to the Fico 10 version. At the moment, my scores favor the Fico 8, and are strongest on Fico 5/4/2 versions.

I was a bit surprised, too. The LO told me my score was 839 and since I had just been looking at my scores I knew that wasn't one of my 5/4/2 scores. So I asked what score version is that? She told me FICO 10.

Looking at my scores, FICO 10 and FICO 8 seem to be fairly close to each other. So there is that.

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

Thomas_Thumb — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:33:59 GMT

@Have1 wrote:
@GrillMasterTake2 wrote:
Fico 10!?! How about that! It's my understanding a few lenders are "migrating" over to the Fico 10 version. At the moment, my scores favor the Fico 8, and are strongest on Fico 5/4/2 versions.
I was a bit surprised, too. The LO told me my score was 839 and since I had just been looking at my scores I knew that wasn't one of my 5/4/2 scores. So I asked what score version is that? She told me FICO 10.

Looking at my scores, FICO 10 and FICO 8 seem to be fairly close to each other. So there is that.

Nice to see the migration is underway. Interesting that they are using F10. My understanding is mortgages will be based off F10T or VS4.

Perhaps some lenders aren't embracing the hype attributed to models with trended data.

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

GrillMasterTake2 — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:39:08 GMT

Long story short, we decided to go a different route and we're NOT getting a HELOC. Instead, we're applying for a new mortgage. I'm supposed to unfreeze my reports today or tomorrow for the bank to pull.

I'm hoping they pull 5/4/2, since they're the strongest on my profile. We're going through a small community bank, so I'm hoping they stick with 5/4/2. We shall see...

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

GrillMasterTake2 — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:44:40 GMT

There's a significant difference between my 5/4/2 scores and the new 10T versions.

790 5/4/2middle vs 746 10T middle score. Curious to see which version my bank pulls.

My banker has told me they give the best rates at 740. I "should" be Golden regardless of which version they pull, but 10T is too close for comfort for me!

Re: HELOC SCORE VERSIONS

GrillMasterTake2 — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 23:14:18 GMT

A small, regional bank pulled my Fico 5/4/2 mortgage scores today! This is exactly what we wanted. No Fico 10 version at all! My scores were as follows:

We're hoping this is over quickly! This process creates a lot of anxiety...