FICO vs Lender scores

[Anonymous]

I paid for and checked my FICO scores. They were all above 680, when my lender checked my credit for a construction loan, he got a score that was 40-50 points lower! I was led to believe FICO was THE standard for scores. Why the huge discrepancy???

[user5387]

Welcome to the forums!

The scores found here are the FICO 08 series.

If the construction loan is treated as a sort of mortgage loan, then it's worth pointing out that the mortgage business uses the FICO 04 score series.

These scoring models use different formulas, and I would expect mismatches in the resulting numbers.

There are lots of threads around here that go into the details of this issue.

[Anonymous]

So, basically, searching for and being told that FICO is the mortgage standard is a farce??

[user5387]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So, basically, searching for and being told that FICO is the mortgage standard is a farce??

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FICO 04 is the mortgage standard.

FICO 08 is the series found here.

Scoring models change over time, in part due to changing consumer behavior, changing laws, and so on.  An example in FICO 08 is the crackdown on "tradeline renting" (new restrictions on authorized users).

I believe the reason that FICO 04 is still used in the mortgage business is because of a desire for standardization.  I think this is partly due to the fact that mortgages are often resold and packaged into investment securities.

[Anonymous]

But myFICO specifically states that it is the mortgage standard by which 90% of mortgage companies get their scores.  90%!  That's a pretty high rate to tout when it, in fact, is false!

[Anonymous]

I totally feel like I was duped and wasted $35 dollars that could have been better spent elsewhere.  How can I get a refund??

[MrCrabs]

It's actually pretty accurate. When I just went on my app spree myfico score was 571 and when I received some denial letters they said my score was 573. my Credit Karma accout said it was 589 and credit seasme was 597 so myfico is accurate, the problem is different lenders use a million different scoring models so one may use Fico 08 or 04 or something entirely differently. It's not so much myfico's fault as it is FICO in general has way to many different models, plus there's vantage scores, and all kinds of non-fico scores some lenders use.

[user5387]

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@MrCrabs wrote:

It's actually pretty accurate. When I just went on my app spree myfico score was 571 and when I received some denial letters they said my score was 573. my Credit Karma accout said it was 589 and credit seasme was 597 so myfico is accurate, the problem is different lenders use a million different scoring models so one may use Fico 08 or 04 or something entirely differently. It's not so much myfico's fault as it is FICO in general has way to many different models, plus there's vantage scores, and all kinds of non-fico scores some lenders use.

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The lending industry uses a wide variety of scoring systems, and this issue would still exist if FICO drops out of the picture entirely.  An example is the proprietary scores used by lenders like Amex and Chase.

FICO is the standard in the mortgage business, but the scoring model used (04) is different from the scoring model found here (08).

Both of these are FICO scoring models, and there are also more specialized FICO variants used in the auto / credit card industries.

The reality is that you and I have multiple "right" scores at any time.

[Anonymous]

The scores on myFICO scores on this site range from 682-695. The scores my lender pulled were 641-644, that, in my book, is a huge discrepancy. The places they call FAKO on here, credit sesame, etc, were actually much truer than the ones on here. That is no where close to what mortgage standard is, caused me to have an inquiry done prematurely, and now I have to wait at lease another month before building!

[Anonymous]

My major complaint is that I paid for these scores before submitting to my lender because the tout the '90% of mortgage lenders use these scores', which is total hogwash, evidently!