Do lenders really use the various score versions?

[masscredit]

When you apply for an auto loan, do lenders really look at your auto score? Or if you apply for a mortgage, do the lenders look at the mortgage scores? Or do at least some look at your "regular scores"?  DCU for example, at one point, their best auto loan rates were available if your EQ08 score (regular score) was 680 or higher. I've had a number of auto loans from them and they weren't based on my auto score.

Also, when I read threads about credit card approvals, nobody is mentioning their credit card scores.

[SouthJamaica]

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@masscredit wrote:

When you apply for an auto loan, do lenders really look at your auto score? Or if you apply for a mortgage, do the lenders look at the mortgage scores? Or do at least some look at your "regular scores"?  DCU for example, at one point, their best auto loan rates were available if your EQ08 score (regular score) was 680 or higher. I've had a number of auto loans from them and they weren't based on my auto score.

Also, when I read threads about credit card approvals, nobody is mentioning their credit card scores.

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1.  It varies.

2.  Many of the posts on credit card approvals mention the poster's credit scores, or have the credit scores in the signature.

[FireMedic1]

Not all creditors use the same version. You can see from approvals what was pulled. It could be any version for a card. Depending on lender. Heres a tidbit:

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Depends on lender. Chase for example uses 3 versions plus vantagescore. At least, they did last time I checked in 2018.

[ForwardLooking]

For big loans (like auto and mortgage), whatever score the lender uses will mainly be for prescreening purposes only and there is no guarentee of a loan or interest rate based on score alone.  If your score matches their pre-screening, then they will dig deeper into your actual credit report and make a decision based on their own criteria.  The may even look beyond your report at external data points too.  It is quite possible for a person with a 800+ score to be denied credit or have a higher interest rate than a person around 670 because of the lender's internal scoring critera.  So in some sense, scores can be irrelevant and do not mean much as each situtaion is different.  I would not worry too much about scores not being mentioned on credit card approval threads.

[masscredit]

@ForwardLooking Oh yeah, I get that. There are so many scoring versions but most people talk about their 08 scores. And when lenders provide me with my score when I apply for credit, most of the time that's the version they list. 

[ForwardLooking]

@masscredit 08 is probably one of the most commonly used and what is shown by default on most monitoring sites that provide FICO scores which is why it is discussed, but I honestly believe it provides little value in general discussion.  I have seen enough (not the majority of) lenders provide other score versions that I had to change my thinking a little.  I currently don't have a terrible TU FICO 8 score today (679) considering I am in a rebuild mode.  However, I am trying to prepare for the future to buy a house in a few years.  FHA set requirements for lenders to begin looking at FICO 10T and Vantage 4.0 if the loan is to be sold to or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.  I don't have access to any Vantage 4.0 scores today, but I do have access to FICO 10T via myFICO.  My FICO 10T score is at 633 with TU today, well below my FICO 8 score.  I know what I need to do to improve that score.  But in the same thought, I have seen people on the forum asking why their FICO 10T score is higher that their FICO 8 score.  I guess at the end of the day, I may use a basline FICO 8 score as a measurement to guage my personal financial health, but it is really the data that produces the score that I am more concerned about.

[Catbird_Seat]

As an example to your inquiry, I get a VantageScore 4.0 from 3 lenders; NASA, Fortiva & Synch. 

My scores are 672, 632 & 606 respectively.

As you can see, those 3 scores vary greatly.

NASA's score shows it comes from Experian, Fortiva shows it comes from TU & I don't know where Synch pulls their data for me.

My "regular" EX, TU & EQ scores are all within a close range of each other. 

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

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@masscredit wrote:

When you apply for an auto loan, do lenders really look at your auto score? Or if you apply for a mortgage, do the lenders look at the mortgage scores? Or do at least some look at your "regular scores"?  DCU for example, at one point, their best auto loan rates were available if your EQ08 score (regular score) was 680 or higher. I've had a number of auto loans from them and they weren't based on my auto score.

Also, when I read threads about credit card approvals, nobody is mentioning their credit card scores.

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DCU has always used EQ5 for everything.   They still provide that score monthly to all depositors whether or not they have a credit product.   I have gotten two CC's with them and they used EQ5.   It's possible they've changed to 8, but I would think they would then change the score they provide monthly to their customers.

[FireMedic1]

@masscreditAlso remember depends in what state, region and other factors. One creditor could pull EX for me in Fl. Same lender may pull a different version in the midwest or even west coast.