How to find the FICO score

JorgeBurrito said: The closest you are going to see is via myFICO.com, which is your official FICO score. The problem is the lenders may take your credit report, and run their own algorithm that they have found to work and use that or use a different companies model then FICO. Just make sure that all three of your credit reports are clean and accurate.

Thanks for the info. You mentioned that its lender specific. Do you know which lenders are mostly relying on standard FICO as compared to their own algorithm. I may go with citi-mortgage but if their algorithm is tighter than some body else, lets say well-fargo, then I could with wells-fargo. the interest rates are pretty much same for both of them.

Also on couple of items on my credit report I see following remarks:

"info disputed by consumer - meets FCRA"
"dispute reported , resolved - consumer disagrees"

What does these remarks mean? is it negative? I have zero balance on both of these cards.

FW's,

Ok, here is the breakdown on how credit scores are derived.

Each bank does not have its own personal algorithm to adjust credit scores, the difference is in scoring system that is set by the bureaus directly. Each lender pulls a report from a Credit Depository Company, who merges the reports together and the scoring system the bank asks for.

There are currently 3 different scoring models for scoring a FICO Score on a report:

1) Consumer (This is how Credit Cards and Consumer Driven Websites (myFICO.com) Score You)
2) Auto
3) Mortgage

You can apply for a Credit Card, Car, and Mortgage all on the same day and get vastly different scores.

There really is no website that you can go to to get a mortgage report upfront other than just applying for a mortgage from a lender. I agree with the posters above just to focus on making sure that your credit report is accurate and you are paying your bills on time.

This will assure that your scores are strong and you get offered the best rates. As lenders we are looking for a 740 middle score or higher for the best conventional corforming loan pricing.

specialist2000 said: Also on couple of items on my credit report I see following remarks:

"info disputed by consumer - meets FCRA"
"dispute reported , resolved - consumer disagrees"

What does these remarks mean? is it negative? I have zero balance on both of these cards.
Thanks

At some point the credit bureaus received a complaint from you that you disputed the information that was listed by this creditor. The bureau has stated that they have verified the information that you disputed as accurate. I have never heard that this type of action or this type of complaint disposition details effects your credit score when the information has been verified. But if the account is currently "in dispute" and a final determination has not been established then this does effect your credit score typically positively. Typically people will dispute negative accounts such as charge offs and late pays and your score will go up while in dispute because those accounts are not scored while in dispute. The problem is that Fannie Mae will not accept the deal because of this if your accounts are "in dispute", because they consider your credit score invalidated. So those accounts will invalidate an automated approval by Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac's automated system will accept some actively disputed accpunts and I have gotten deals done through their guidelines when this happens.

Since it appears that your accounts have been dispositioned then I would not worry about them.

specialist2000 said: Also I haerd about advantage score, is that a good reflection of the score seen by lenders.

No Mortgage lender that I know of currently uses the "Advantage" score model. It was proposed about 3 years ago to give a more complete picture on how the borrower pays their bills by taking out authorized user accounts and taking more weight on certain categories of debt. But the investors (Fannie and Freddie) never switched over to the "Advantage" Score and currently only accept the "Fico" scoring model.

Colt2001 said: FW's,

Ok, here is the breakdown on how credit scores are derived.

Each bank does not have its own personal algorithm to adjust credit scores, the difference is in scoring system that is set by the bureaus directly. Each lender pulls a report from a Credit Depository Company, who merges the reports together and the scoring system the bank asks for.

There are currently 3 different scoring models for scoring a FICO Score on a report:

1) Consumer (This is how Credit Cards and Consumer Driven Websites (myFICO.com) Score You)
2) Auto
3) Mortgage

You can apply for a Credit Card, Car, and Mortgage all on the same day and get vastly different scores.

There really is no website that you can go to to get a mortgage report upfront other than just applying for a mortgage from a lender. I agree with the posters above just to focus on making sure that your credit report is accurate and you are paying your bills on time.

This will assure that your scores are strong and you get offered the best rates. As lenders we are looking for a 740 middle score or higher for the best conventional corforming loan pricing.

specialist2000 said: Also on couple of items on my credit report I see following remarks:

"info disputed by consumer - meets FCRA"
"dispute reported , resolved - consumer disagrees"

What does these remarks mean? is it negative? I have zero balance on both of these cards.
Thanks

At some point the credit bureaus received a complaint from you that you disputed the information that was listed by this creditor. The bureau has stated that they have verified the information that you disputed as accurate. I have never heard that this type of action or this type of complaint disposition details effects your credit score when the information has been verified. But if the account is currently "in dispute" and a final determination has not been established then this does effect your credit score typically positively. Typically people will dispute negative accounts such as charge offs and late pays and your score will go up while in dispute because those accounts are not scored while in dispute. The problem is that Fannie Mae will not accept the deal because of this if your accounts are "in dispute", because they consider your credit score invalidated. So those accounts will invalidate an automated approval by Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac's automated system will accept some actively disputed accpunts and I have gotten deals done through their guidelines when this happens.

Since it appears that your accounts have been dispositioned then I would not worry about them.

specialist2000 said: Also I haerd about advantage score, is that a good reflection of the score seen by lenders.


No Mortgage lender that I know of currently uses the "Advantage" score model. It was proposed about 3 years ago to give a more complete picture on how the borrower pays their bills by taking out authorized user accounts and taking more weight on certain categories of debt. But the investors (Fannie and Freddie) never switched over to the "Advantage" Score and currently only accept the "Fico" scoring model.

Thanks for all the useful info. I see following scores for myself on myFICO.com

EFX - FICO 720
TRU - FICO 715

Can I expect my score as run by Mortgage lender will be 680+ or there are no gaurantees. Also if there are any late payments ( store cards) which got removed recently, how long it may take to reflect thaton the report. Actually I can see that these are removed from all 3 bureaus as of yesterday. Can I expect that these removal will also get reflected in the report run by lender ( say tomorrow) or there is a wait tme before it will get reflected for lender run report.

Thanks again.

Do you have high cc balances? If paid off you should gain good amount points and likely get a better rate

specialist2000 said: Also my mortgage broker works with citi-mortgage and he mentioned that for his previous clients, following scores were obtained:

EFX - BEACON 5.0
TRU - EMPIRICA 950
EXP - FAIR ISSAC SCORE 2

Can I get these scores myself and how does these correlates to FICO scores I see on myFICO.com.

Thanks

Beacon, Empirica and Exp:Fair Isaac are names using which each credit reporting bureau license the product from FICO.

In other words, these are the same Sh&^, different name.

However, the version # matters.

When you get your own scores from myFICO.com, I am not sure which version you get.

For example, recently, TU score from myFICO.com switched to the "brand new" version, discounting the benefits of "authorized user" status.

Also, you can no longer get EXP-based score from myFICO.com.

Specialist,

If the lates were removed off your consumer report then they will be off any report that a lender pulls. They are pulling the same information that is being reported from each bureau. The only difference is the scoring model.

If you have a 715 "consumer" score I would expect a mortgage score near 700 typically.

The credit card balances that you carry typically get reported once a month to the bureaus. It is up to your credit card company when they get reported. I would call the companies and ask them when they report their information. Typically it is towards the end or beginning of the month.

By the way a lender is supposed to tell you by law what your scores are, that they pull. They dont have to give you the report but they do have to tell you the scores.

Thanks tolamapS.