Is That Really a FICO Score?

I want to talk today a little bit about FICO scores and the fact that you probably get several different FICO scores in your snail mail and in your email, or offers to get your credit score for free. And I wanted to talk a little bit about what this credit score means. I don’t know if you know this but when a mortgage lender like myself pulls your credit, it’s actually a different credit score that we get. And the reason for this is that there’s more than one FICO model out there. There’s actually more like seven or eight different ones that are used for different reasons out there.

Don’t ask me why they do this, why they don’t just standardize it and make it one credit score.

But, the fact is when you get a FICO score in the mail or through your credit card or your bank or something like that, that’s what’s referred to as a consumer credit score. And unfortunately, it’s a little bit misleading as far as what you’re going to get from a mortgage lender like myself. Typically, not always but usually, we score a little bit lower than what these consumer scores are. Anywhere from 20 to 30 points is pretty typical. It’s because the FICO model that mortgage lenders use has a little bit different scoring system.

This is important to keep in mind if you’re kind of poking around a little bit for a mortgage, you haven’t yet applied for the mortgage. Keep in mind that your credit score is going to be a little bit different when a mortgage lender pulls it.

If you want to find out what your mortgage credit score is, call me. I can pull your credit report for free. We can take a look at it. We can also look at ways to improve your credit, to bring that FICO score up, even if it means… Not only just if your credit score is poor, but let’s say your credit score is good and you want to get your credit score to excellent, we can help you with that as well. Call me, text me, or email. 303-670-0137 or brach597@fairwaymc.com.

Happy to help with that or anything else mortgage related.