I was a finance manager at a car dealership for years and have directly worked with people to help them improve their credit because I talked with the guys at the banks who were in charge of acquiring the loans. I know exactly what they look for. Idk what experience you have directly but I can assure you that I probably have more lol. Please take my advice on this
Transunion, Experian, and equifax scores will all be different because they weigh different things into the score. If one score is low, the person helping you acquire the mortgage (if he/she is good at her job) will reference higher scores from other bureaus and point out the good things in your credit report.
Typically banks use an 08 model but it depends on if its TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian as well. Kinda hard to explain but each credit bureau has multiple scores.
Running credit only really takes off 1 POINT. So if you are a 711, if you pull your credit your score it might drop to 710. Nothing drastic at all. Its a huge myth that this greatly effects your credit score. On-time payments and percent of utilized credit are the two heavy hitters in determining score.
When I said go to a car dealership this is what I meant, because its free, unless you want to be courteous and tip the guy that greeted you:
1.) Walk in
2.) Tell them you need to have your credit checked because you're interested in a new car but don't know if you can be approved
3.) Fill out credit app
4.) They will run credit, ask them to run all 3 bureaus
5.) Ask for the scores, they NEED to give them to you BY LAW, with a credit report so you can see exactly what your negatives are
6.)Tip the sales guy $20 and say "hey bro, sorry, but I want to wait until my credit gets better, I appreciate your help". If you go into a high-end luxury dealership, you can't qualify for the advertised "Tier-1 Plus" lease prices unless your Experian ( for Lexus they use Experian I believe, might be equifax but ) is above 720 anyway.
There is really no better way to go about it. Credit Karma gives BS scores. I've had people come in and show that credit karma gave them a 900 credit score, but we run the credit and its low 700s, or even high 600s sometimes. Millionaires with multiple paid off expensive mortgages and NO credit utilization RARELY have above an 850. And that's IMPECCABLE credit.
Please, take my advice. Until a couple months ago when I switched to working for an investment company, I dealt DIRECTLY With the loan BUYERS at all of the major banks to get people approved for loans. I can't see how anyone else could have a more hands on type of experience.
Pesty, I appreciate your input, but some of it doesn't make too much sense. I'm sure you're a smart guy, but all of us have expertise in different subjects my man