If you’ve just cleaned up your credit report, you may be wondering how to update your credit report information fast so that you can improve your credit rating quickly. Let’s discuss one tactic to accomplish this: the rapid rescore. You can find the answers to all of your questions about rapid rescores in this article, so keep reading to learn more!
What Is a Rapid Rescore?
A rapid rescore is a process that mortgage lenders use to manually update your credit report information with the credit bureaus so that your score can be recalculated quickly. Instead of waiting for your creditors to report your information to the bureaus periodically, your mortgage lender can provide the information to the bureaus and request that they update your credit report right away.
When Would You Need a Rapid Rescore?
Since mortgage applications are time-sensitive, a rapid rescore can definitely be a useful tool in certain situations. If you are in a situation where there’s been a change to one or more of your accounts that has not yet been reflected in your credit report, and you want to rapidly adjust your credit score in order to qualify for better mortgage terms, you may want to consider requesting a rapid rescore.
Rapidly increasing your credit score before getting approved for a mortgage could mean qualifying for a lower interest rate and therefore huge savings in interest over the term of your loan.
For this reason, the best candidates for a rapid rescore are consumers who have credit scores between the mid-600s and the 720s and who are 5-10 points shy of their target score, according to Bankrate. The maximum benefit of a rapid rescore is gained by borrowers who can get bumped up to the next credit score range (e.g. from fair credit to good credit) in order to qualify for a lower interest rate, which can ultimately save them thousands of dollars over the course of the mortgage.
If you have recently paid down some of your revolving balances, a rapid rescore could get your credit score to reflect your lower credit utilization sooner.
Of course, it’s always best to plan ahead well in advance of applying for a mortgage so you have plenty of time to get your credit score in great shape first. However, sometimes situations may arise in which a rapid rescore would be beneficial. Some examples of situations that might call for a rapid rescore include:
- If you have recently received a credit line increase.
- If you have just paid down the balance of an account.
- If you have been added as an authorized user to an account in good standing or removed from a derogatory account.
- If have disputed inaccurate negative items on your credit report, such as late payments that were being reported in error.
Remember, credit utilization makes up 30% of your credit score, so any action you take to improve your credit utilization ratio, such as paying down account balances, may help boost your score and get you a better deal on your mortgage. The removal of negative information from your credit reports or the addition of positive information can also help give your credit a lift.
How to Get a Rapid Rescore
If you want to know how to improve your credit rating quickly through a rapid rescore, it’s important to point out that not just anyone can request one. Rapid rescores are only offered by mortgage lenders, so, unfortunately, you cannot directly order a rapid rescore on your own. If you are in the process of applying for a mortgage, ask your lender if they can complete a rapid rescore for you.
How Long Does a Rapid Rescore Take?
The great thing about a rapid rescore is that it can get the credit bureaus to update your credit report within just a few days instead of waiting for weeks or even months for it to happen on the usual schedule. Once your mortgage lender submits all the necessary documentation to initiate the rapid rescore, you should see your new results within just 3-7 business days.
A rapid rescore can update your credit report in days instead of weeks, which can be useful when applying for a mortgage.
How Much Does It Cost to Do a Rapid Rescore?
According to The Mortgage Reports, the cost of a rapid rescore typically ranges from around $25-$40 for each account that needs to be updated. However, the mortgage lender should be paying for the rescore, not the consumer.
This is because a rapid rescore is considered an expedited dispute process, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act says that consumers cannot be charged to dispute inaccurate information.
Does Rapid Rescore Really Work?
When it comes to rapid rescore results, they will likely be the same as if you had gone through the normal channels to submit a dispute. Remember, a rapid rescore is essentially an accelerated credit report dispute. The rescore itself is not guaranteed to make your credit score increase.
If you are using the rapid rescore to remove inaccurate information that has been dragging down your credit score, then you should see positive results from the rescore.
However, just as in traditional credit repair, a rapid rescore cannot be used legitimately to try to remove information that is accurate. If the derogatory items on your credit report are accurate and timely (from within the past seven years), then a rapid rescore won’t be able to help you.
Rapid Rescore Companies
Companies that offer the rapid rescore service to borrowers include mortgage lenders such as banks and credit unions. Not all mortgage lenders offer the service, though, since it can end up being expensive and lenders are not allowed to charge borrowers for a rapid rescore.
If you are getting ready to apply for a home loan and you think you may want to have the option of doing a rapid rescore, ask the banks or mortgage lenders you are interested in whether the companies offer rapid rescore services to borrowers.
If you find any rapid rescore companies advertising their services to individual consumers, use caution and watch out for possible scams.
You can use our tradeline calculator or a credit score simulator to get a general idea about whether a rapid rescore could benefit your score.
Rapid Rescore Calculator
To calculate your rapid rescore results, you don’t need a specific rapid rescore simulator. Just use your favorite credit score simulator and plug in the numbers that make sense for your situation.
If you are planning to do a rapid rescore after paying off $5000 in credit card debt, for example, you could enter that information into the credit score simulator to calculate what the results of your rapid rescore might be. You could also try our calculator to see how your credit utilization ratios would change as a result of paying down some of your accounts or transferring balances.
However, keep in mind that any credit score simulator is likely not going to produce the exact same results that your lender will see. Online credit score calculators typically use simplified credit scoring algorithms to produce estimates, which may not always match up with the numbers the mortgage lender sees when they pull your FICO scores.
How to Do a Rapid Rescore Yourself
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to do a DIY rapid credit rescore on your own, since only mortgage lenders can perform this service on your behalf.
What you can do is prepare thoroughly to ensure your dispute will be accepted. As with a normal credit report dispute, you’ll need to provide proof to support your claim. This often means obtaining a letter from the creditor verifying the change that you can then provide to the credit bureaus.
For example, if you have just paid down the balance on one of your credit cards, you can ask the credit card company to send you a letter verifying the updated tradeline information. Your mortgage lender can then submit this to the credit bureaus to get you a rapid rescore.
How to Update Credit Report Information
To update your credit report information yourself, you can obtain a letter from your creditor and forward it to the credit bureaus.
Although you can’t officially do a DIY rapid credit rescore yourself, you can trigger a manual credit report update by submitting your documentation directly to the credit bureaus. However, your tradeline may not be updated as quickly as when your mortgage lender pays for the privilege of an expedited update.
If you want to give it a try, follow these steps to manually update tradelines in your credit report:
- Contact your creditor and request that they send you a letter that verifies the updated account information.
- Send this letter to the credit bureaus and request that they update the information in your credit file.
Once they receive your information, the credit bureaus should then update the information for that tradeline in your credit profile.
In addition, some banks may report a tradeline in the middle of a reporting cycle if you pay down the balance to zero.
Rapid Rescore Success Stories
If you’re interested in reading some rapid rescore success stories, you can find plenty of them online. Try searching in some online credit forums to see the rapid rescore results other consumers have been able to achieve.
Some consumers may see a credit score boost of up to 100 points after a rapid rescore, although results vary widely based on what information is being changed.
Some sources say they have seen credit score increases of up to 60 points after a rapid rescore, while others claim that a rapid rescore could potentially boost one’s credit score by up to 100 points. However, keep in mind that the result of a rapid rescore is going to depend on what information in your credit report is being updated and how severely it has been affecting your score.
Conclusions on Rapid Rescores
Although a rapid rescore isn’t guaranteed to raise your credit score, it can be a handy tool if you need to get your credit reports and credit scores updated within a few days rather than waiting weeks or months for the credit bureaus to update your information normally.
When applying for a mortgage, a rapid rescore may be used to increase your chances of getting the best possible rate on your loan by getting positive changes to quickly appear in your credit reports and credit scores.
Only some mortgage lenders offer this service, so check with your lender to see if they provide rapid rescores to their clients.
In addition, it’s a good idea to check your credit reports several months in advance so that you have plenty of time to correct any errors and pay down your balances. That way, you can decrease the likelihood that you will have to rely on a rapid rescore when applying for a mortgage.
Over to you: have you ever used the rapid rescore tool to rapidly increase your credit score? What did you learn from this article? Let us know below!
