What am I buying when I start a mortgage credit check through BestQualify?
What you pay for
You are paying for the credit report your lender orders. Credit Technologies pulls your credit from the bureau or bureaus included in the check, adds the scores, and delivers the full report to your lender. Your lender uses it to begin your mortgage process. Depending on the loan, your lender may need additional reports later.
You start the order from a loan officer’s BestQualify page, and the price is shown before anything is ordered. BestQualify’s guides, directory and pages are free; credit reports and related services are paid.
What each check includes
Which checks are offered is the lender’s choice. A loan officer’s page can offer these:
| Check | Bureaus | Scores | Effect on your scores |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-bureau soft check, the lowest-cost start | One | A VantageScore only | None |
| Three-bureau soft check | Three | Classic FICO and VantageScore 4.0 | None |
| Hard report | Set by the lender's order | Set by the lender's order | Counts as one mortgage inquiry |
Your lender can add bureaus to the file you started; a full hard report is still pulled close to closing. The hard report near closing is the one new purchase.
What you receive
You receive your scores, not the report. Your lender gives you a score disclosure listing each credit score it used, the model it came from, the date it was created, the range that model uses, and the main reasons the score was not higher. Federal law requires that disclosure. The report itself goes to your lender.
What the disclosure holds depends on the check:
- a one-bureau soft check gives you one VantageScore;
- a three-bureau soft check gives you a Classic FICO score and a VantageScore 4.0 score from each bureau;
- a hard report gives you each score your lender used from it.
What you are not buying
- A loan, a rate or an approval. Your lender decides those, on the whole application.
- A score nobody else sells. myFICO sells mortgage-version scores to consumers. What it cannot sell you is a report your lender can use.
- A promise that a score will change. If something on the file is out of date or wrong, your loan officer can ask for it to be corrected. That is a separate step, and its result is not promised.
- Credit repair. Nobody challenges accurate information on your behalf.
How to read your score disclosure
Illustrative example. Every value below is invented to show the fields. It is not a real file or a copy of any CTI form.
- Score
- 704
The number your lender received from this bureau under this model. A three-bureau check with both models gives you six of these. - Scoring model
- FICO Score 2 (Classic FICO, Experian version)
Classic FICO is FICO Score 2 at Experian, FICO Score 4 at TransUnion and FICO Score 5 at Equifax. - Range of possible scores
- 300 to 850
Where this model's scores can fall. Compare scores only within one model. - Date the score was created
- 14 October 2026
The score describes your file on this day. A balance paid after it is not included. - Provided by
- Experian
The bureau whose file produced this score. - Key factors
- 1. Balances on revolving accounts are high compared with credit limits
2. Length of time accounts have been established
3. Too many accounts with balances
4. Number of recent inquiries
The law requires up to four, plus the number of inquiries whenever it is one of the factors. These are the questions to take to your loan officer.
Reading it: on a three-bureau check, your lender uses the middle of your three scores under the model it prices the loan on. If factor 1 appears on every score and you paid a card down after the date above, ask whether the balance can be updated before you lock.
The notice also explains what a credit score is, in wording the law prescribes, and tells you whom to contact if you think the information is wrong. Keep it with your loan papers.
Questions people ask
Who receives the report?
The loan officer whose page you ordered from, and companies with a legal role in your loan if it goes ahead. You receive the score disclosure, not the report. Your real estate agent receives neither.
Can I see the accounts on it?
Your loan officer can go through them with you. To read every account yourself, use your free reports from the three bureaus.
Can a different lender use it?
No. A lender has to order its own report. Your score disclosure, and what you learned from it, go with you.
Does ordering it commit me to anything?
No. It is a credit check, not a loan application. You can stop, change lenders or wait.
Why does the payment page show another name?
The order runs through the credit-ordering system your lender already uses, and its payment page carries that system's name.
Notes and sources
- BestQualify: Who's behind your mortgage? (who receives your mortgage credit report)
- Credit Technologies: Soft credit check vs. hard pull
- Fair Credit Reporting Act section 609(g) and (f), 15 U.S.C. 1681g (the credit score disclosure to home loan applicants and what it must contain)
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-5.2-01, Requirements for Credit Reports
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-5.1-01, General Requirements for Credit Scores
- CFPB: What kind of credit inquiry has no effect on my credit score?
Spot something wrong? Tell us