A creditor offering a revolving credit product must balance the credit risk evaluation against revenue and response rate evaluations. A consumer who discovers that he or she has a high revenue score may mistakenly believe that his or her credit record is more favorable than it really is and fail to take appropriate actions to improve his or her record in anticipation of an application for a significant credit obligation, like a mortgage. Not all risk is considered equal. The same consumer may present very different degrees of risk for different credit products, even if offered by a single lender. For example, the same consumer might present a 1 in 10 risk of defaulting on an unsecured credit card obligation, but a 1 in 100 risk in defaulting on a first mortgage obligation.
Lenders use scores differently.
Different credit grantors have very different standards for what level of risk they will accept. A credit score that one lender considers satisfactory may be regarded as unsatisfactory by other lenders for comparable credit instruments. Scores can change often. The score from any given system for a consumer depends on the information available at the time a credit report is compiled. Other information and criteria besides credit scores are used in making lending decisions.