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aishal
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aishal asked about a year ago in Personal Loans

Loan approval

What is fico score is required to apply for a loan. Are 3 credit bureaus used?

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Mark Kantrowitz
FiLife Contributor
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Note that your FICO score can differ considerably from one credit reporting agency to the next. This is why it is important to check your credit reports with each of the three major credit reporting agencies, to make sure there are no errors that could hurt your credit score. For example, if you have a good credit score with Equifax and TransUnion but the lender uses Experian, it's only the Experian credit score that matters.

Differences in the credit scores can also arise from differences in the credit history data at each credit reporting agency (e.g., some creditors report your data to only one agency, some report it to all three) and differences in the weighting used by each agency.

Lenders often have additional binary (yes/no) criteria in addition to the credit score floors. For example, many will deny your application if you've had a recent bankruptcy even if you have a good credit score. Or if your income is volatile or if you are self employed.

Credit score floors vary from lender to lender. The lower your credit score, however, the less likely you are to be approved for a loan. Anything under 650 is considered "subprime".

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David R Hanson
FiLife Contributor
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Hi aishal,

For personal loans, FICO score requirements can vary widely. Commonly one FICO score is used, though not always. Note that as with other loans, underwriting requirements have tightened considerably in the last year as credit has grown more scarce.

Your best bet would be to contact the issuers of the loans you are interested and ask them directly. They might not want to give you a cutoff score (and they may not even underwrite with a FICO score cutoff). But they should be able to give at least general answers to questions about their underwriting criteria.

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