You can find so many articles about the importance of having good credit. And nowhere is the state of your credit more important than when you apply for a home loan. For many people, a house will be the most expensive thing they’ll ever buy, and the possibility of a home loan will depend on the health of your credit. Since the most common measure of financial health is a credit score, most potential buyers are urged by well-meaning sources to “check your credit score before you apply.” Many people just go online to see if their score is good enough, and they go to meet with a lender to discuss potential loans.

But then you’re met with the statement: “Sorry, your credit score is too low. You won’t qualify for the best interest rate.”

How can this be? How can the credit score you buy be higher than the one the lender receives? The answer is a simple one – there is more than one kind of credit score. There are three main credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union), and they use different methods of determining credit scores. While they use more or less the same scales and criteria, slightly different formulas are used by each, which means you’ll have three different scores from each. You could even get 4, since the three bureaus are now also using a unified scoring system. But which one is the “correct” score?

Most mortgage lenders check the FICO score, which is created by Fair, Isaac, and Co. The FICO score is actually very similar to many other scores, but it’s the one that lenders check out. So you should check your FICO score to know where you stand ahead of time. You also have to make sure that the number you receive is indeed your FICO score and not a random one.

How can you do that? The internet offers many ways through which you can get a credit score, but not all of them offer the FICO figure. You must make sure that the site actually offers the FICO score before you agree to pay. You can find the FICO figure on the website of Equifax and FICO. If you aren’t sure, you might check with one of those two Websites. It’s good to make sure that you have an accurate representation of your financial health before you go about applying for loans. You just have to make sure to get your FICO score.

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