Higher or lower really depends, but I feel confident that the algorithms used to calculate mortgage scores place a greater emphasis on installment loans. As anyone knows, who has ever applied for a mortgage (post 2007), that in the application process income is stressed. Even pre-approval, automated underwriting, has locations for “income” – Liar Loans went out with “W”. We all know that the FICO models do not use income (directly) to calculate a score; however, they do use installment loan balances to original amounts as a sub-bucket. For mortgage loan model calculations the monthly payment amount is also used.
I say this from personal experience but have researched the topic as well. Look about half way down post 55 (and 58 for a correction) on this link. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Excellent-credit-not-needed/td-p/5158019/page/6 It fundamentally shows the relationship and references the algorithm used.
Mortgage lenders are concerned with your FICO score, but equally (or more in some cases) concerned with your ability to repay a fixed rate loan. A borrower can have a $100K credit card limit, but if they only use 1% of it their monthly payment is very low; however, the lender has no idea how much they will owe next month (so the algorithms look at utilization ratios more). If the borrow has a $100K mortgage (at a fixed interest rate), their monthly payment is known exactly. In this case, if the borrow wants a second mortgage, the lender knows exactly how many more payments the borrow has and how much each one is. If the borrower has low revolving utilization – well the program's prediction abilities beyond individual and total revolving utilization rates is limited.
The more fixed rate installment loans a borrower has (mortgages, auto, finance, school loans etc.), the more exact the mortgage algorithms can predict repayment capabilities for another such loan. That is why mortgage lenders use the 3 FICO mortgage scores (FICO 2, 4, and 5). I hope this sheds a little more light on the topic; but not making it clear as mud.
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