Optimizing your credit score to get a better home loan is dubbed “Lipstick on a Pig” in a recent Forbes story by reporter Maura Desmond. She consulted my colleague, John Ulzheimer, a credit scoring expert with Credit.com (and former credit industry exec) who warns that credit score manipulation is the next subprime crisis. This quick credit rescoring service, offered through mortgage lenders and brokers, can identity problem areas in your credit reports and suggest fixes to boost your credit — such as paying down a maxxed out credit card, for example.
Is it fraud? Or it is fair play in a system that is heavily influenced by the numbers (that we don’t always understand in the first place)? What do you think? Would you be willing to play the system to increase your score if it meant saving thousands on your mortgage?
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