Consumers, Originators and Credit Scores

Consumers frequently come to us requesting that we do not pull their credit in order for us to give them detailed mortgage information; rather they say that they have already obtained their credit scores from an online credit service.

The fact is that the scoring models used by mortgage lenders differ from those offered to consumers and therefore the credit information that the consumer gets could vary from what a mortgage lender sees.

In the mortgage industry we look at three scores and take the middle score. For a joint application we look at three scores from each borrower and then qualify the mortgage based on the lowest of the two middles scores.

It is important to monitor your credit for accuracy; even a minor credit error could impact a financial transaction for a consumer. But do not assume that the credit information you receive will mirror what a lender sees.