Which way is better?

[Anonymous]

Before I start to address anything on my credit report, I want to get some input. I will be appling for a mortgage in 3 months or so.

My scores are as follows:

EQ: 639 (FICO)

EX: 703 (Vantage)

TU: 696 (Vantage) 

My biggest problem is high CC utilization (87%). My next problem is the CA Central Finacial Control (they are evil!!!)

1.) $1447 medical bill reported on 4/07

2.) $325 medical bill reported on 1/07  

Which is the best option with the available $$$ I have?

1.) Pay off the CA.

2.) Get my utilization down to 25% or so.

3.) Pay the CA and reduce my utilization to 50%. 

I want to know how to get the biggest bump in my score... Quickly!!! 

[Anonymous]

Talk to your mortgage lender, find out if those collections NEED to be paid first. They may not give you a mortgage if you have outstanding debt (although some do). That will be a big factor in determing where your money goes...

What I did was to print my reports and hand deliver to my mortgage lender. This prevented them from doing the hard pull, but they could still give me advice on how to proceed.

Good luck. I'll be curious as to what the experts say here.