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Got drunk with a guy who spent 6 years approving business credit applications at a major bank
He got laid off in March so he doesn't give a fuck anymore
I asked him the question everyone argues about: why does a guy with an 800 score get denied while some 3 week old LLC walks out with $80,000
He laughed and said "nobody reads the applications"
I thought he was exaggerating. He wasn't. A scoring model reads them. It looks at six things and a human being never enters the room
He broke it down after the third beer:
Your score band. Not your score. The machine doesn't care about 762 vs 758, it cares which bucket you're in. 680+, 720+, 740+. Cross a line, different universe
Inquiries in the last 6 months. Past that window they basically stop existing. Two identical files, one applied for shit 4 months ago, one 7 months ago. Different decisions
Utilization on the day your statement cut. The machine never sees what you owe. It sees what you reported.