My sister -in-law just bought her second home and she said all three mortgage companies took the lowest FICO score between her and her husband when applying for a loan. Is that correct?
They usually take the midscore of each person. I've not heard them taking the lowest...my DH and I just got a new mortgage and they took the midscore. Can't hurt to ask them!
I've never heard of that either, and I have bought and sold several homes in the past ten years. I agree, it's usually the middle score.
depending on the program - they take the breadwinners middle, or the lowest middle. if only two scores are shown, they use the lowest instead of the middle.
What i am talking about is when there are two people purchasing a home. They may average each persons three scores but take the lowest of the two of them. Here is an example. My husband and my mom want to purchase a home together. I make no personal income. My mom puts up the down payment to get a mother-in-law apartment that is already attached to the home. Will they average both scores together? My moms is higher.
no, depending on the program they will either use the lowest middle or the breadwinners middle. ask your lender.
some programs will add all 6 scores up and divide by 6 to get the average...and this is the score used to qualify. There is only one company that I know that does this. Remember that many mortgage professionals are saleman..and to justify a higher rate (more money to the loan officer) they may try to make your situation seem worse off then it actually is. When 3 scores are present, they will use the middle score. When two are, they use the lowest of the two. The main money maker on a full documentation loan is the score used for deciding on the rate (the other score still often needs to be used to qualify for the loan). They're just being silly if they are using the lowest of three scores.......good luck!
