Sudden change in credit scores

[Anonymous]

A question for who ever may have an answer?

Have adjustable rate mortgage, checked my yearly credit report & purchased the credit score for TU & exp, the scores were 647 & 649, OK so I felt safe enough to attempt an online refi search in my area, when the lender called and pulled my reports the scores were much different then what I had received from the two CRA's. I pulled the reports my self on 1/29/08 and the lender on 2/8/08. How can there be such a discrepency, if there were no changes posted to my reports?

[Anonymous]

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teleymic wrote:

A question for who ever may have an answer?

Have adjustable rate mortgage, checked my yearly credit report & purchased the credit score for TU & exp, the scores were 647 & 649, OK so I felt safe enough to attempt an online refi search in my area, when the lender called and pulled my reports the scores were much different then what I had received from the two CRA's. I pulled the reports my self on 1/29/08 and the lender on 2/8/08. How can there be such a discrepency, if there were no changes posted to my reports?

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Welcome to the forums!

It sounds like you pulled your reports and purchased your scores through the free annual credit report site.  Is this correct?

If so, then the scores you purchased there are not real FICO scores, they're what we call FAKO scores around here.  The lender probably pulled real FICO scores, hence the discrepancy.

The only place you can buy FICO scores for all three CRAs is right here at MyFico.

Hope this helps.

[sh9730]

If you bought them directly from the Credit Bureaus (CRAs) they are not the REAL FICO scores...read credit 101 thread....the only ones that matter are the ones you buy from this site.  That is what MOST mortgage lenders use.    Buy them from the home page on this site and I think they ll be closer to what your broker has...

[Anonymous]

Thank You,

                 I was so confused. So even TU and Exp scores are not the one a lender might pull. Why would people pay for them and be fooled that their scores are not what they really are? Aren't people suprised if they go for a loan only to be declined because the score they thought they had was not the real deal.  All this advertisement from the 3 CRA's telling you to keep monitoring your reports and score, so you'll be prepared before you attempt to apply for a loan. Sounds very misleading, on the part of the 3 CRA's.

[sh9730]

Well, technically they dont CLAIM its a FICO score...just a "credit" score.  They are trying to get a movement afoot to have more lenders use THEIR scoring method....but so far not much luck.  Now, just so you understand, when you get the 3 scores here at MYFICO, even though the information is taken from TU and the other CRAs, the SCORE is generated using the FICO method and is the one most used out there.....

[Anonymous]

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sh9730 wrote:

Well, technically they dont CLAIM its a FICO score...just a "credit" score.  They are trying to get a movement afoot to have more lenders use THEIR scoring method....but so far not much luck.  Now, just so you understand, when you get the 3 scores here at MYFICO, even though the information is taken from TU and the other CRAs, the SCORE is generated using the FICO method and is the one most used out there.....

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Well said.

[llecs]

Another source could be utilization. One or more CCs could have reported a new balance between the time you pulled in January and the time they pulled last week thereby affecting your utilization %.

[Anonymous]

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llecs wrote:

Another source could be utilization. One or more CCs could have reported a new balance between the time you pulled in January and the time they pulled last week thereby affecting your utilization %.

We could speculate about all kinds of changes that could have happened, but OP said in the first post that there were no changes that posted to his/her reports, so I took OP's word on that and looked for a different explanation.

[llecs]

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cheddar wrote:

We could speculate about all kinds of changes that could have happened, but OP said in the first post that there were no changes that posted to his/her reports, so I took OP's word on that and looked for a different explanation.

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True, all things being equal, but OP said this..."I pulled the reports my self on 1/29/08 and the lender on 2/8/08. How can there be such a discrepency, if there were no changes posted to my reports?"

Much can happen in 10 days. "If" was conditional.

[Anonymous]

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llecs wrote:

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cheddar wrote:

We could speculate about all kinds of changes that could have happened, but OP said in the first post that there were no changes that posted to his/her reports, so I took OP's word on that and looked for a different explanation.

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True, all things being equal, but OP said this..."I pulled the reports my self on 1/29/08 and the lender on 2/8/08. How can there be such a discrepency, if there were no changes posted to my reports?"

Much can happen in 10 days. "If" was conditional.

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OK, but OP has already posted back to confirm the problem was FICO vs FAKO.

When you see the phrase "annual credit report" used in conjunction with pulling scores, the answer is obvious.

I think Ockham's razor applies here.

Message Edited by cheddar on 02-15-2008 04:42 AM