Credit Score - Posted by Latoria

Posted by Kathy (MI) on February 02, 2002 at 10:41:50:

Bruce says a good credit score is 620 to 934. I thought a score of 620 would be low-average, and 850 is the highest rating, according to everything I’ve read. If this is not true, please educate me. Thanks!

Credit Score - Posted by Latoria

Posted by Latoria on February 01, 2002 at 13:42:49:

How can you find out your credit score? What is considered good? Bad?

Re: credit score LONG - Posted by Shane

Posted by Shane on February 02, 2002 at 22:49:15:

There are many places you can go to pull one score. However for the purposes of obtaining mortgages lenders pull a tri-merge credit report from the three major bureaus. These are Transunion (they use a computer program from Empirica, Experian (using a fair isaac & company program {fico}, and Equfax (using beacon). Lenders use the middle of these three scores to qualify people for loans. Scores range from 400-900
from these three bureaus. Other companies may score differently and their scores can range from I don’t know to I don’t care but when it comes time to get a mortgage the only three bureaus that matter are the three mentioned above. People say that you need a 620 to qualify for a conventional (conforming) loan. This is a misconception. I have personally seen scores lower qualify. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac set the standards for conventional mortgages. They both have an automated computer underwriting system that calculates many risk factors including but not to limited to credit score in determining a loans elligibillity for conforming pricing. Many times a lender sees a score under 620 and instead of taking the time to run the borrower through LP (Freddie Mac’s underwriter) or DU (Fannie Mae’s underwriter) they tell you that you don’t qualify. On average I would say that 50% of people who are steered into sub-prime mortgages would qualify for conventional or A- conventional loans. In answer to your question a good credit score is usually 600 and above. 700 and above is excellent. Anything under 500 is a nightmare but still may sometimes be possible to receive mortgage financing. The problem with those scores is normally they are connected with low income borrowers so because the loan officer will not be paid excessively do to a low loan amount he isn’t willing to put in the work to get the job done.

Re: Credit Score - Posted by Bruce Lawson

Posted by Bruce Lawson on February 01, 2002 at 19:04:47:

Hi Latoria,

You can retrieve your credit score from a couple different sites www.myfico.com or www.equifax.com these sites charge ~$12 but supply you with a bunch of information about your score. FICO is the Fair Issac and Company they are not a credit reporting company but do affiliate with equifax on credit scoring. Equifax credit score is the beacon score when you hear someone say fico it does not mean any particular CRA.

A good credit score is anything from 620 to 934, 620 is conforming and will usually get decent interest rates.

Sincerely,

Bruce Lawson