General Credit Topics

[dragonvn]

Hello,

I'm trying to prepare my package to apply for a mortgage, either now or within a year from now. Currently, my Equifax score is 701 and TransUnion 677. I do not have my recent Experian Score. The above scores are from myfico.com. When I compare the accounts listed on 2 reports, all the accounts are almost the same. On both reports, I have a 30 day late payment on a Toyota auto loan from August 2009. The only other negative account is BofA 2nd mortgage which was a joint account with my Spouse and it was "modified under a government plan". That's correct and that's how it listed on Equifax along with A 90+ days since April 2011. OnTransUnion, it listed as 120+ days late since March 2011 with no statement regarding the modification.

Currently I have 2 credit cards (AMEX & Chase) which have been  always current with balance < 30%. My mortgage payment is $107. My 3 auto loan accounts ( I co-sign with my spouse and sister on 2) are for s total of $1,410. My name is not on the first mortgage, only my spouse is. So my current DTI is only 15-16%.

What can I do to increase my Transunion and overall credit scores? I would like my scores to be 680-720 by the time I apply, if possible.

[jamie123]

You need to get your credit card balances paid down. You need to have one card reporting less than 9% of the total of your credit card credit lines. One card MUST report a zero balance.

Utilization of credit cards plays a huge part in maximizing your scores.

What are the balances and credit lines for your 2 credit cards?