Have you wondered how loan and mortgage companies decide whether or not to lend you money when you apply for a loan? For nearly all, the decision is based on one version or another of a ‘credit score’ based on your credit report. The most commonly used credit scoring ‘device’ is the FICO – software developed by Fair Isaac and Company to evaluate credit histories.
When you make an application for a mortgage loan, the finance company or bank makes an inquiry to a credit reporting agency. The credit reporting agency takes the information given them by the finance company and compiles a report based on information in its own records and other information that’s a matter of public record. That information is not only compiled, it’s fed into a software program that uses a series of algorithms to estimate the likelihood that you’ll pay the loan back. It makes that estimation by comparing information about you with a profile created by compiling the ‘ideal borrower’. The closer your information tallies with the ‘ideal’ profile, the higher your credit score.
Among the things that the FICO software...