A new report indicates a disparity may exist between credit scores for consumers and those of lenders, when a credit check is run. This could potentially cost some consumers credit opportunities. Lenders look at consumer credit scores to determine their creditworthiness.Consumers are running self-credit checks and finding they have much better scores than the ones lenders are seeing.

The report comes from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and states that approximately one in five consumers may receive credit scores that are substantially different from the one their potential lenders are seeing. This equates to approximately 20 percent of all people running credit checks on themselves, a significant portion of the population.

Consumers report both higher and lower self-checked scores. Lower scoresmay lead some consumers to avoid applying for loans or credit that they should be perfectly able to receive, and some consumers are even accepting higher interest rates and worse loan terms because they think that’s all they can qualify for with their current credit score.

“When consumers see a credit score, they should be aware that a lender may be using a very different method in making a credit decision,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is reducing the number of false credit score reporting. The CFPB plans to closely monitor the credit score reporting industry, by directly supervising the thirty largest credit score reporting companies.

Discrepancies exist in the method of calculation and in trends of individuals receiving the high versus low scores. Credit scores can be calculated using a variety of different models which utilize varying factors at varying weights to determine a credit score. It seems that some lenders are pulling scores that follow different methods of calculation than the scores given to consumers.

The report from the CFPB claims that these varying factors did not affect the majority of scores. Most scores that were calculated based on different models did not differ from each other by more than just a few points. But the Bureau found that between 19 and 24 percent of the time, different methods of calculating scores could bring up very different scores.

The CFPB says most consumers have no way of knowing whether their credit score is significantly different than the one seen by lenders. One way that consumers can protect themselves is to be sure they check their official Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian credit scores on a regular basis. This can be done on the official government website for receiving an official yearly free score, or consumers can go to these credit reporting agencies’ websites directly and purchase scores if they wish to receive them more than once a year.

If you’re interested in a new auto loan where you know you can trust that you’re getting a great loan whether you have good or bad credit, please be sure to stop by Scott McCorkle’s Liberty Buick GMC at 9028 East Independence Boulevard; give them a call at 844-442-0871 or check out the website at www.clickliberty.com.