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Which Credit Score Does a Mortgage Lender Use?
Which credit score a mortgage lender uses for one borrower and for co-borrowers, with a worked example, and why scores differ between bureaus.
49 sec · Captions available on the player · Presented by AI-generated presenters, with every line taken from the FreeRateUpdate page it answers.
Source: FreeRateUpdate answer page, Sept. 29, 2026; Fannie Mae
Transcript
This is FreeRateUpdate News. I'm Edmund Ledger. Today's question: which credit score does a mortgage lender actually use?
For one borrower, the lender usually pulls all three credit bureaus and uses the middle score, not the average.
If the scores come back 680, 695 and 670, the lender uses 680.
With co-borrowers, Fannie Mae prices the loan on the lowest of the borrowers' middle scores.
A quick check for an early quote often uses just one bureau. The full application pulls all three.
Scores normally vary a bit from bureau to bureau, and that alone usually doesn't mean there's an error.
I'm Edmund Ledger, for FreeRateUpdate News.
What the charts show
Two on-screen tables. A worked example: three bureaus return 680, 695 and 670, and the middle score, 680, is the one used. Which score prices the loan: for one borrower, the middle of three bureaus; for two or more borrowers, the lowest of the middle scores; for an early quote from a soft pull, often one bureau only.