Frequently Asked Questions

Bad credit is subjective and is in the “eye of the beholder”. When I was in the mortgage business I considered a 580 score as good credit because with a 580 credit score I could get someone approved for a house with no money down. Of course as time goes on, guildelines change, client goals are adjusted and the definition of good credit goes with it.

Today you can get approved for a mortgage with a 620 score so for that goal some would consider 620 as a good credit score.

Scores range from a low of 300 to a high of 850, according to Experian as of Dec 2020 the average credit score was 711 and FICO considers that good. According to FICO scores are labeled as follows

– Very Poor Credit: 300-579
– Poor Credit: 580-600
– Fair Credit: 601-660
– Good Credit: 670-739
– Very Good: 740-799
– Exceptional: 800-850

I have different opinions of what good and bad credit are.

Good Credit is having good enough credit to be able to qualify for the loan you may be seeking at the best rate possible.
Bad Credit is having anything on your credit that doesn’t allow you to qualify for the loan you are seeking at the best rate possible

Yes, many people would be surprised to know that we all have dozens of different credit scores.

Most credit scores are provided by FICO and NOT the credit bureaus.

FICO uses a mathematical calculation (algorithm) that takes the data provided by the credit bureaus which is run up against the algorithm to determine your credit score. This credit score is published for the lender along with your credit history and is supposed to quickly summarize your overall credit.

Since the calculation is basically a computer program it is updated periodically. This is similar to your operating system on your computer (ie MS Windows) as with MS Windows most “New” Computers come with the latest and greatest version while people and companies who purchased new computers years ago may not be upgrading to the newest versions all the time. Many time people don’t upgrade their windows software at all even though there are changes almost weekly.

This is no different than when dealing and working with FICO and other credit scores. Not only are there different versions of the algorithm but there are different “base” versions based on the industry.

The following are some of the main “different” versions of the FICO score

Mortgage Score – For mortgages
Auto Score – For car loans
Revolving Score – For Revolving Credit
Utility Score – For Electric and the like.

There are also others as well.

In addition to this “Industry Specific Algorithm” there are also differences within the industry. ie. A large car dealer who’s been in business for decades (ie. Ford) may be using a different version of the scoring model than a dealer that is relatively new (ie. Tesla)

This difference between scoring models explains why when you apply for a car you see multiple credit pulls on your report as these car dealers are sending your application to various banks and lenders who are most likely using different scoring models/versions based on their company policies.

Mortgage companies however handle this a little different. Since mortgages are ultimate bundled and sold on wall street their grading must be based on something consistent. This means that most mortgages are issued using the mortgage score but more importantly ALL people involved in mortgages must use the exact same version of the mortgage score so that ultimately it can be sold on wall street (This is why you don’t see dozens of credit pulls when a broker shops your loan around)

In summary the answer is yes, there are different scores for mortgage companies, however this is true for just about any lender who “pulls” your credit. So in essence there technically is no such thing as a “Normal” score.

This also means that ALL the scores we get from credit monitoring services, or credit card companies are not showing us our score but instead they are showing the score they calculated using their version of the score (even if they say its a FICO score)

I hope this helps.

There is one source that can explain more and actually give you the “truest” version of your score. If you pull your credit report from FICO directly at MyFico dot com you will see what score they have for you in each industry. Although a little pricey it does open your eyes.

• Advance Payment for Services – Credit repair laws do not allow companies to charge for work in advance. The do however allow a “First Work/Setup” fee but this fee is still not actually due until the “First Work/Setup Fee” work (as described by the company) is complete. ie. Our first work fee is due after completed which technically is just an hour or two after you enroll. The people who get in trouble are the ones that charge you fees upfront (ie $500, $1,000, $2,000, $2,500 etc) before completing the work you are paying them for. ie. You cannot be charged for the removal of items until the work involved in the removal of items is complete (ie. Letters prepared and mailed)
• Larger than acceptable first work/setup fees – Traditionally businesses have been able to choose the fees they want to charge, however in credit repair too many companies used a scheme of charging a large “First Work/Setup Fee” and very small monthly fees with the intention of getting the bulk of the fees charged upfront. There has been some consensus in the industry that $150 should be the max “First Work/Setup Fee” as anything above has been criticized. If you have a company that is charging more than a $150 “First Work/Setup” fee they may be breaking the law.
• Deletion Promises – As with any investment in the stock market past performance of a company doesn’t mean that future performance will be the same. Stock brokers do not have any control of the stock market and thus are required to avoid making false statements related to specific deletions. If a company is promising a specific deletion they are breaking the law as they have no control what or when or if an item will be deleted. When asking a company specifics like this stay away from those that make false promises as that is a huge red flag.
• Time Frame Promises – For the same reasons as discussed with deletion promises anyone who promises or even “implies” specific results within a certain time period is being misleading as there is no way they could no for sure and making such a statement would be false and is illegal.

• Segmentation of information – Most employees have no access to anything regarded to as private, those who do have very limited info.
• Offline – As much private info as we can is housed offline in PC’s not attached to the internet. ie. Payment info, ID Documentation
• Online – Software we use to work on your file and provide you back end access is 100% encrypted and shows minimal information.
• Hard Copy- All letters are printed and physically mailed in house by one of two team members, we do not outsource such sensitive information.
• Hard Copy Extras – On occasion we may print letters an extra time (ie. printing errors) where we wind up with extra hard copy documents that are not needed. This also happens when/if clients snail mail us documents. Any hard copy documents we have is shredded using commercial shredding services.
• Website -Our website which is used to gather information is SSL secured, additionally the most sensitive info is collected offsite using a 3rd party service with bank quality encryption.

• $149 First Work/Setup Fee
• $35 Per Standard deletion (all negatives except public records)
• $250 per bankruptcy deletion
• $25 per name/address aka Technical item deletion.