Loan Brokers Are Using Soft Credit Checks to Close More Deals

In the past, loan brokers, merchant cash advance, term loan, SBA loan, equipment leasing, and other related professionals have depended on their clients to self provide their credit reports and scores. These professionals often tell their clients to go to Credit Karma, or a similar consumer site, download their own report, then send it to the loan broker (or just give them their log on information). In addition to the lack of professionalism this practice brings, problems that arise out of this situation are as follows:

1. Often the client delays in getting the broker their credit report and the deal fizzles out.

2. The client sends their self-provided credit report to multiple loan brokers.

3. The credit report provided by Credit Karma is often a Vantage Score (not their FICO® score) and the score can be 50-100 points different than their FICO® score.

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It’s either that, or the loan broker relies on the client’s stated FICO® scores and credit history and shops them. The loan brokers puts in all this work on the client’s behalf, then after the financial institutions providing the funds pull their credit, the loan broker finds out that the customer’s credit score is 100 points lower than what they stated, is delinquent on 3 of 5 of their credit cards, and has had a bankruptcy last year… #fail

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If the problems above sound like you or your company’s headaches, worry no more! Enter Soft Credit Checks and iSoftpull!

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Soft Credit Check Solution

Industry professionals can now pull their customer’s entire credit report and FICO® scores, on demand, with a soft pull credit check.

iSoftpull delivers a consumer’s entire credit report and FICO® score, using the consumer’s name and address only, without doing a “hard credit pull”. When I say full credit report, I mean it. It is literally the exact same data as on a traditional hard pull, it's just a soft pull. This includes trade lines (revolving accounts, mortgages, student loans, credit cards, car loans, etc.), delinquencies, civil judgments, warning messages, personal information (past residential addresses), employment, etc.

Once again, a soft credit check can provide literally the exact same information as on a hard pull... and it can come with your choice of score version for FICO or Vantage Score.

How Accurate is a Soft Credit Check?

The next question you’re probably asking is: “How accurate is it?" It’s dead-on balls accurate. iSoftpull has a direct API to the master credit file. In other words, if a report was updated a minute ago, the score/trade line change would be reflected in the new pull.

This recent development in credit reporting software capability is born from a shift in public policy amongst credit reporting agencies – the short and skinny is consumers want to shop for loans, and get accurate terms presented/offered to them, without filling out a gazillion page application, disclosing sensitive information (social security number), and damaging their credit score…. And credit reporting agencies are starting to finally recognize this.

I mean if you really consider it, it makes sense – why should someone have to divulge all their personal information and damage their credit score just to get an accurate quote? It really makes sense from a public policy perspective to allow customers to shop (being financially responsible) without the burden it has historically has brought.

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