What Does the Middle Number of Your Credit Score Mean?

You can have excellent scores at two credit bureaus, but a terrible one with the last bureau can end up costing you hundreds more in interest charges. The U.S. has three national credit bureaus, so you have three credit scores. The middle number of your credit scores is often the most important for lending decisions.

Identification

The major bureaus report most of the same data, but fail to find out about accounts from time to time because lenders may not report the account or it slips through the cracks. This can give a consumer a huge range between all three of their scores from the credit bureaus. Lenders usually try to account for this variance by picking the middle of the three scores as the person's credit score.

Considerations

Most people have a 50-point difference between their highest and lowest scores, according to "Consumer Reports" in its August 2009 "Money Advisor" issue. When a consumer has a wide range, the lender might use a different method to account for the variation. This might mean taking the average of all the scores, an average of the highest scores or another system entirely.

Importance

The type of system your lender uses to account for variance in credit scores can have a huge impact of the cost of a loan. Creditors almost always set rates based on into what range the consumer's score falls. A 760 and above, for instance, is usually the top tier for any lender. If you had scores of 840, 700 and 600, the middle score of 700 puts you in the second best tier, but if the lender averages the top two, you fall into the highest tier.

Tip

Lenders vary on what system they use, so predicting how they manipulate scores is usually impossible. Thus the best thing you can do is make sure the bureaus report all of the same data if possible. The bureaus have slightly different reporting standards on some items. Experian, for example, reports unpaid tax liens for 15 years while the other bureaus list them until the borrowers settles the matter. Review your report for mistakes, such as missing positive accounts or delinquent debts you do not owe.