Q In November 2020, my partner and I hired a broker to apply for a mortgage. At the time, my partner’s credit score at Experian was 629 and mine was 964, and we got an Agreement in Principle (AIP) for a mortgage. We were unable to find a home to buy until our “in principle” mortgage offer expired in February 2021. In March, we therefore applied for a new home. This is what we do not understand. We were turned down because of our credit score. But our credit rating is slightly higher than it was in November. We tried other lenders and got turned down again for the same reason.

At the same time, we tried to contact the original lender to give us information about the specific credit number they are asking us to have. Nobody knows. They don’t even spend time on the phone. Why do we use a credit score system if no one knows? And who is responsible for this system? I want someone to justify me why there is no clear information online. Why don’t lenders set goals for credit scores? I need to know which number to aim for.
AA

A What I don’t understand is why you were told you were turned down on an Agreement in Principle (AIP) because of your credit scores. When lenders assess AIP applications, they usually want to know the exact details of your existing income, expenses, and credit agreements as well as all of your addresses for the past three years. Lenders don’t perform a full credit check, but instead use one of the major credit reference agencies – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion – to confirm that the details you give on existing credit agreements match up with details of your credit report. Credit scores are irrelevant. And according to Experian, even when lenders do a full credit check – when you’ve submitted a full mortgage application, for example – the credit referral agency score still doesn’t matter.

According to the Experian website, there is no such thing as a universal credit score system. “Each credit reference agency will give you a different score on a different scale. When you apply for credit, lenders don’t use it [credit reference agency] Goal. They use your credit report information, your claim details, and any recent history of previous accounts with them to calculate an overall score for you. That’s it [lender’s] final score that helps them decide whether to accept you or not. And just as credit reference agencies each use a different way of calculating your credit score, lenders apply different criteria to their lending decisions, giving much more weight to your income and financial statements. expenses than your credit score.

As Equifax says: “A good Equifax credit score doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll always be successful in applying for a loan, credit card or mortgage, but it does give an indication of how lenders might view your credit card. request.”