Rapid rescore: What to know

If you’re applying for a mortgage and need to quickly boost your credit scores in order to better qualify or get access to better terms, rapid rescoring can help. But what exactly is rapid rescoring? And how does it work?

Read on to learn all about rapid rescoring.

Key takeaways

• Rapid rescoring can help a borrower quickly boost their credit score to improve their loan eligibility or get access to better loan terms. 

• Rapid rescoring is typically related to mortgages.

• Borrowers can’t initiate a rapid rescore on their own—rapid rescoring has to be done through a lender.

Rapid rescoring is a process a lender might use to have a potential borrower’s credit reports and credit scores updated more quickly than usual. It typically takes one to two billing cycles for new payment information to be reflected on a credit report. But with a rapid rescore, that information can appear on a report much faster.

Rapid rescoring is typically related to mortgages and may help a potential borrower quickly boost their credit scores in order to improve their home loan eligibility or get access to better loan terms.

To get a rapid rescore, a lender will collect proof of updated account information—documentation showing the borrower recently paid off their credit card, for example—from the potential borrower. Then the lender submits that proof to one of the three major credit bureaus—Equifax®, Experian® or TransUnion®—and pays a fee to expedite updates to the borrower’s credit report. Once the report has been updated, the lender can request a new credit score before moving forward with the mortgage process.

A borrower can’t request a rapid rescore on their own—it has to be done through a lender.

Rapid rescoring generally takes three to five business days, according to Equifax.

Rapid rescoring can come in handy if you’re on the cusp of jumping into a new credit tier—like from good to excellent. As Experian explains, “A rapid rescore is usually recommended by your mortgage lender when your current credit score falls a few points below the score needed to qualify for a better rate or loan terms.”

While a rapid rescore might be helpful, it isn’t guaranteed to help everyone.

Rapid rescoring typically won’t result in a drastic credit score increase—it’ll usually increase your score by only a few points. And it isn’t a form of credit repair. It doesn’t remove negative information like late payments, charge-offs and bankruptcies—it simply reflects the most recent update to your credit report.

Rapid rescoring can help a borrower quickly boost their credit score to improve their home loan eligibility or get access to better loan terms. 

And whenever you’re considering applying for credit, it’s important to monitor your credit to see where you stand.

CreditWise from Capital One can help. CreditWise lets you monitor your TransUnion credit report and daily VantageScore® 3.0 credit score for free anytime—without hurting your credit scores. Plus, it’s free for everyone, even if you aren’t a Capital One cardholder.

You can also use the CreditWise Simulator to learn how your score might go up or down if you do things like open a new credit card, pay off a balance or increase your credit limit.