Welcome to the forums, @Anonymous. I moved your thread over to mortgage loans as that is where the best coverage is for HELOCs.
Chase Credit Journey, Credit Sesame, Credit Karma, etc. provide VantageScore scores which are not used by the overwhelming majority of lenders. They can also be off by 100 points or more from FICO scores for a lot of people, which is huge.
There are a number of different types of FICO scores and it would be important to know which version a lender will use. You can get essentially ALL versions of your FICO scores here with a subscription. For a baseline you can get a free Experian FICO 8 score from Discover at creditscorecard.com
For anything big I recommend this (MyFICO) service. If you dont want subscription you could buy a one-time report, they give you pretty much every FICO model that exists with nice breakdowns of why your score is the way it is.
Im sure someone else will chime in with options that cost less.
Im sure someone else will chime in with options that cost less.
You can buy the one time snapshot.
I can tell you DCU underwrites a very good HELOC at 685 on EQ FICO 5 I believe it is for their best rate, but there's no consistency among lenders as it's absolutely roll-your-own unlike a traditional mortgage process. If you have your scores, you can socialize that with lenders and just ask if you can qualify with that.
@Anonymous wrote:I followed the advice and bought credit score fm myfico. I received scores of over 700 (720-730's) and applied. However, their Equifax score is showing only 683. Anyone know what happened?? Is the score on this site inaccurate?
Equifax has two scores you can buy: an educational one, and EQ FICO 5 which myFICO has as the Equifax Mortgage score.
If it doesn't match what you got here for your mortgage score, then you got the educational one TBH. The scores here are absolutely accurate just remember there's no guaruntee which score a lender might pick, but it won't be the educational one from Equifax for sure.
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you! It appears they follow the mortgage score which is a separate one I was not aware of. I need advice. My score requires at least 700 or over to get approved for this particular HELOC. I can work on my credit (mostly paying off balances) it looks like it can increase and able to get this in the next month or so.... Alternately, I can apply to other lenders but rate wouldn't be as ideal. Suggestions?? I could also work on my credit and apply to all of them all at once next time?
P.S
How do I put those credit card things on my sig?? I can see balance info but not interest rate etc? I was seeking advice on best plan to pay down or potentially close some accounts. Thanks in advance!
Generally just list out all of your credit cards like:
Current balance / Credit Limit
And if you're feeling sprightly add in a column for utilization (balance / CL) and state how much money you have to pay down debt and a bunch of people can do that math here, or post it over in Understanding FICO Scoring and you'll get a response quickly.
On a HELOC I'd pretty up my file if needed, you can always borrow the money against the HELOC if you need to later.