The following examples are informational only and are not specific to any customer.
Customers are welcome to correct any errors and submit a new request without impacting their credit score.
Credit Bureau Freeze
Credit Bureau Freeze: Occasionally, customers forget that they have placed a freeze on their credit bureau for information security purposes. If the customer has not removed the freeze before applying, we are unable to do a soft-pull credit inquiry and as a result, the customer will not receive offers. Customers can contact their credit bureau to unfreeze and re-apply. https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
Incorrect Information on the Application
A few common application mistakes that can affect offers include:
Social Security Number: If the customer made an error with the social security number, the soft credit pull will not be successful and would result in no offers.
Address: Customers are asked to provide their home address. If they don’t put the correct address for the property that would show up on a credit report, then they may not be able to be properly evaluated by the lenders.
Income: If the customer put a number in for their income that was not an annual income (for example – they put their monthly income instead)
Co-borrower and housing payment: Sometimes when a customer adds a co-borrower, the co-borrower makes the mistake of including the same monthly housing payment that the initial applicant already provided. When this happens, it looks like the monthly housing obligation is double what it should be. Co-borrowers should not include the monthly housing obligation on their portion of the application if they share this expense with the initial applicant, the initial applicant should have already included the full payment on their portion of the application. Otherwise, be sure to split that expense between each borrower.
Lender Criteria
Each lender has its own criteria that are honed over many years spent lending to their customers. Each customer’s credit score helps the lender assess the risk associated with lending to that customer and the likelihood that the customer will repay the loan. Based on that, along with additional factors like payment history, income, and other debts, the lender will decide if they can make an offer, and if so, what kind of terms they can offer.
Unsecured Loans:
One thing to keep in mind is that for unsecured loans, the personal credit history of the applicant plus other factors like income vs. debt are important drivers of the offers that a customer will see. Because unsecured loans are riskier for the lender, the rates can be higher than secured offers, especially if a customer’s credit profile is on the lower end of the credit spectrum. Some of the main things lenders factor into their decision to pre-qualify a customer for an unsecured loan offer include:
The customer’s credit score
Income vs. Outstanding debt obligations plus what the customer wants to borrow
Employment History
Payment History
Payment history accounts for 35% of a borrower’s FICO score and is the most important factor for lenders. (see What’s In My FICO Scores?)
Large amounts of outstanding debt are another significant concern to lenders.
A long track record of responsible credit use is good for your credit rating.
Lenders want to see that their clients have experience using multiple sources of credit—from credit cards to car loans—in reliable ways.
Generally speaking, most lenders categorize credit scores as follows:
