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What is Your Credit Score?

There are a lot of scams out there these days, none that we find as frustrating though as the infamous online credit score! Here we have one of the all-time greatest inventions to rip off the average consumer, why isn’t anybody creating a fuss about such a magnificent scam? The reason is because almost nobody understands how it all works and the powers to be keep it all very hush hush.

How many people have checked their scores online at some point? There is no great data on this but we are thinking the majority of everyone has checked their scores online. Now, out of all these millions of people, how many could use these exact scores for lending purposes? We are going to go with 0, give or take. This is due to the fact that online scoring models, even the ones provided by the bureaus themselves, are completely different from the scoring models that lenders use when a loan is being applied for. This makes the average online and the credit bureau’s scoring models completely worthless.

How is this legal you may ask? They don’t claim they are giving a FICO lending approved scores, they are saying is what “we” calculate your score to be, based on our system. Even on the rare occasion if they use a FICO model, there are over 50 of those scoring algorithms created so it’s unlikely to be the one your lender is using. Some of the online scores are so off it seems like a bad joke, like Transunion direct source who is Truecredit, their score range goes from an 501 to a 999 so you easily see yourself with an 800 or 900 but that doesn’t mean it’s worth the paper it’s printed on.

Another laughable aspect about this system is that you notice how a consumer never applies for a loan only to find out that their score is actually much higher than what they recently pulled online. In fact the average online score is roughly 40 points higher than what you see through a lender. The conspiracy theory behind this is that the better score you show someone on average, the more people you will attract to your website through referrals.

Kick your feet up – lean back, and rest assured you can be in the driver seat – when you meet with a real mortgage lender and get your true FICO mortgage score – and know all about the loan programs, options, LLPA info then you will be well informed to make the right decision.

So, What Is Your Credit Score?

October Opens with Lowest Rates Since Spring

October opened with some wild activity in the mortgage market. With the introduction of European quantitative easing, investors have been moving money to take advantage of European rates, and domestic rates have been feeling the benefits. On Friday, the average conventional thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgage quote plummeted. Almost all lenders opened the day offering the lowest levels we have seen in over five months. Unfortunately, the afternoon saw a substantial reversal in the bond markets that most affect mortgage rates, increasing the chance of rates shooting upward again.

One of the big factors at play currently is the recent September jobs report, which came in slightly weaker than was expected. This weak activity promises to call a Fed rate hike into question, and deter any general economic growth. It is difficult for long-term rates to go up significantly without a positive growth outlook.

In the near-term, we can still expect some volatility in mortgage rates. Anybody not prepared to deal with this volatility would be well-advised to lock into the current five-month lows.

Market Stabilizes at October’s Highest Rates

Friday closed with the highest mortgage rates for the month so far. Fortunately, these rates still represent an improvement over most of September. These rates remained steady through Monday, as is normal for a three-day weekend. What to expect as we move forward, though, remains very much in question.

The stocks and bonds markets are both at a significant crossroads, both with the potential to either move back into the range seen in June and July or continue a long trend of downward-moving yields and stock prices. There may be some risk for rates to quickly move higher, if we can take the Fed at their word and ignore the weak trends in global economic growth. The Fed seems convinced that the economy will allow for a rate hike by the end of 2015, but many critics are saying otherwise.

All things considered, it may be too optimistic to expect rates to dip any lower than they currently are; anyone looking to float should expect to play the long-term game, and be prepared to pay more if you turn out to be wrong.