Most people think of their credit score the way they think of a report card grade — a single number that sums everything up. But this week’s presenter, Jeremy Shaffer of Lake Michigan Credit Union (LMCU) made a great case for why the number doesn’t tell the whole story, and why business owners in particular should care about what’s actually inside the file, not just the score sitting on top of it.
Shaffer pulled up an anonymized credit report and walked through it the way a mortgage underwriters actually do. Things like address history get close scrutiny not because moving is suspicious, but because inconsistency is one of the easiest ways to spot fraud. Employment history gets the same treatment — lenders are ultimately underwriting truth and integrity, not just numbers. Name variations, timing of inquiries, patterns in when and why accounts opened or closed — all of it tells a story that a three-digit score can’t capture on its own.
That’s the deeper insight worth carrying past the mortgage conversation: a credit score is a summary, not the underlying evidence. Lenders don’t rely on one bureau’s version, either. Shaffer’s team pulls reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion for every applicant, using the classic FICO model specifically — and with two applicants, they take the middle score for each person, then use the lower of those two as the primary value. It’s a deliberately conservative approach, and it means the number a consumer sees on a credit app may not match the number the underwriter is actually using.
Not every red flag is disqualifying either. Closed accounts aren’t inherently bad. A late payment here or there isn’t automatically fatal — though Jeremy noted the typical hierarchy of damages: mortgage and home equity late payments hurt the most, then installment loans, then credit cards. What lenders really watch for is trend, not a single blemish. The practical takeaway for anyone running a business or planning a major purchase: request your own reports periodically, know what’s in them, and dispute inaccuracies before they show up at an inopportune time.
Jeremy’s presentation was a great reminder that trust — in lending, in business, in any relationship — gets built on consistency over time, and not in one single favorable snapshot.
Business professionals even vaguely considering a mortgage, refinance, or major purchase would do well to have Jeremy Shaffer look at where they currently sit. It’s never too early to get started! And if you’re not yet a regular at Border 2 Border’s Wednesday morning meetings, join us! Every week brings new interactions and insights.
