Your FICO 2 score is often lower than your FICO 8 because FICO 2 is an older, stricter model, especially used by mortgage lenders, that weighs older data and penalizes mixed credit files or recent new accounts more heavily, whereas FICO 8 is more forgiving of isolated late payments and gives better credit to those with low balances on active cards, reflecting newer risk assessment methods. Key differences include FICO 2 focusing more on long-term stability and less on recent activity, while FICO 8 better rewards current positive habits like keeping utilization low.
Mortgage lenders may choose to use the FICO 2 scoring model instead of FICO 8 for several reasons. Firstly, FICO 2 is specifically tailored for the mortgage industry, making it more customized to assess credit risk in the context of home loans.
FICO says a good score falls between 670 and 739. Scores in that range are near or slightly above the U.S. average credit score, which was 715 going into 2026. FICO's highest credit score is 850, and FICO breaks its scores into the following five categories: Exceptional: 800-850.
How to improve your FICO® Score
Your credit score can drop for a number of reasons, including a recent late or missed payment, an application for new credit or a change to your credit limit or usage. To understand why your credit may have gone down, it's important to understand what affects your credit scores.
If you want to increase your score, there are some things you can do, including:
Mortgage lenders typically evaluate a borrower's creditworthiness using FICO Scores 2, 4, and 5. These scores are the ones used by Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — the three major credit bureaus.
Your credit reports are updated when lenders provide new information to the nationwide credit reporting agencies (TransUnion®, Equifax, Experian) for your accounts. Lenders tend to provide updates once a month.
Tier 2 credit score means that you have a FICO score in the 670 and 799 range, which classifies you in the “Good” to “Very Good” range. You will qualify for most loans with a Tier 2 credit score, however Tier 2 typically will not allow you to qualify for the most favorable loans like a Tier 1 credit profile.
FICO offers many types of FICO® Scores to auto lenders. Some of the models that your lender might use include: FICO® Score 8 or 9: These are older generic FICO scoring models, meaning they weren't created for a specific type of lender. However, many lenders still use them, including some auto lenders.
Learn about credit score ranges by FICO® or VantageScore®. Credit scores range from 300 to 850, and a score starting in the high 600s can be considered good.
While the foundational elements are consistent across FICO® models, FICO® Score 2 is fine-tuned to assess mortgage-related risk. This means it might weigh certain credit activities differently than other models, calculating a different score than other FICO® Score models, such as FICO® Score 8.
Steps to improve your FICO Score
For base FICO® Scores, the credit score ranges are: Poor credit: 300 to 579. Fair credit: 580 to 669. Good credit: 670 to 739.
No single credit score is the most accurate, as different lenders use different models. FICO scores are the most widely used for lending decisions, but Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian each generate their own scores based on available data. Accuracy depends on which score a lender considers most relevant.
Mortgage companies use FICO 2,4,5. They are always lower than FICO 8 and Vantage scores because they use a different risk evaluation criteria. This is to be expected, and there's nothing you can do about it. I show an average difference of ~70 points between my FICO 2,4,5 and FICO 8.
The 3-7-3 Rule in mortgages isn't a loan type but a federal timeline from the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule, ensuring borrower protection by mandating disclosures within 3 business days of application, a 7-business-day wait between the initial Loan Estimate and closing, and another 3-day wait if significant changes (like APR) occur, giving borrowers time to review costs before committing to a loan.
FICO® Score 2 is the classic FICO® Score version available from Experian. FICO® Score 4 is the version of the classic FICO® Score offered by TransUnion. FICO® Score 5 is the Equifax version of the classic FICO® Score.
For most people, increasing a credit score by 100 points in a month isn't going to happen. But if you pay your bills on time, eliminate your consumer debt, don't run large balances on your cards and maintain a mix of both consumer and secured borrowing, an increase in your credit could happen within months.