Equifax’s Dirty Little Secret - Credit Bureau
I had to share this blog post by Mark Fidgett after listening to the recorded phone conversation he shared. This is the kind of thing that makes me angry - another example of how consumers are getting deceived and ripped off by corporations. So here's the gist of it for those of you (like me) not in the mortgage industry: As it turns out, the credit score a regular Joe or Jane sees when running their credit report at home is NOT the same score that a mortgage lender will see when pulling their score as a creditor.
In the example cited in the phone call, the Beacon score (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/beacon-score.asp#axzz1QOWzZsNH) was a whopping 50 POINTS LOWER than the score the consumer had been given. The advisor representing Equifax clearly states there are two scores from two different departments: a consumer score and a Beacon score. So this effectively means that when you pull your own score to see if you might qualify for a mortgage loan, it has NOTHING to do with what the mortgage lenders will see when they run your credit report. AND Equifax is charging a little fee for you to see this score that has nothing to do with anything, apparently.
Just listen to the phone call below - it is worth every minute spent! It might save you a huge amount of time and disappointment and damage to your credit report.
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From now on you may want to reconsider paying $23.95 to Equifax for your credit score.
You might be surprised to hear that what you get, may NOT be what you expect.
You like me, probably believe that when you pay the additional $23.95 to Equifax, you’re getting the score that lenders rely on to determine your credit worthiness.
Well apparently, THAT”S NOT THE CASE…
First some history.
Client presents to me about 3 months ago requesting a specific mortgage.
The particular mortgage program in question is designed for business owners and comes with a minimum beacon score requirement.
That being said, I didn’t want to randomly pull the clients credit without first knowing they even met the minimum credit score requirements.
As I have always advised, you can pull your score personally, as many times as you’d like, and it WILL NOT affect your score.
As such, the client specifically paid $23.95 to Equifax to see their credit score.
Their credit was too low at that time.
I sent them away with a few credit secrets to help raise their score.
They followed my advice to the tee.
They called me yesterday as happy as can be.
When they arrived at my office, they once again paid the $23.95 to Equifax to obtain their credit SCORE.
Score was 683.
BINGO, goal achieved! Or at least we thought…
Knowing that their score met the program requirements, I too pulled their score.
BUT To my surprise, the score from my end was 635.
Just to be clear, client pulls and gets a 683, I pull and get a 635.
Why SUCH a discrepancy?
I immediately called Equifax for an explanation.
I will leave it up to your interpretation.
Please push the play button below to hear the call.
Would love to hear your comments below.
Mark Fidgett
Your Vancouver Mortgage broker
604-273-2002
www.notapennydown.com
mark@notapennydown.com
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