Hi all - I have a question about mortgage fico scoring that I was hoping for some help with... I've read that lenders use the 'middle' score of the primary breadwinner. I've also read that Equifax is the only one that counts, and no one uses Exp or TU? Any idea which one is accurate? I want to refinance, before the awesome rates are going and I want to focus my efforts. Ie, if the "middle/primary" idea above is true, I can just focus on upping my best two scores right now while leaving my 3rd score and my wifes 3 scores for later. Thanks!
...by 'which one is accurate', I meant which statement - not which score ie, Do mortgage lenders generally get all 3 and use the middle, or do they just go with Equifax? THANKS!
They usually get a tri-merge and use the middle score. Equifax is a real FICO (Fair & Isaacs score), EX uses their own model, and TU has a FAKO and a FICO. People here have mentioned that the scores their mortgage lenders receive do vary from what they themselves have received.
e Normally lenders will use the middle score and it doesn't matter which score is the middle one. They also will look at all reports. If a collection or chargeoff is on any report, it is treated the same as if on all. Also, many conventional/conforming lenders will look at both spouses reports if you are putting both spouses on the app. You really haven't provided enough information to allow me to give you more complete advice. If you feel uncomfortable with providing more details here, you can email me off-board and I will be glad to answer you. fla-tan
Thanks for all the replies so far! Basically, we'd like to refi to take advantage of these good rates, but I found that all of our scores are around 550-560. From what I understand, I'm going to have to get to around ~650 to get something like 6% 30yr fixed. Anyway, between the two of us, there are 6 different reports to deal with and I was just wondering if I could focus all of my efforts on raising my best two to the required ~650 level, get the mortgage, and then clean the others up at a later date...
Also - when you say that some lenders look at both spouses files... I guess that means both would have to hit the min required for the loan? Is there a list of mort lenders and which technique/agencies they use? Thx!
