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Hi everyone,
What a journey it's been to find these forums. So grateful to be here and start paving a way to clean credit.
I am a single mother with an affordable rent-controlled apartment in the US's most expensive city. I want to buy a home to get out from under a loony upstairs neighbor, to give my child a stable place to grow up in, and to have as a long-term investment. I recently contacted a mortgage broker who specializes in FHA loans; she ran my credit and came up with the following scores: 600, 616 & 629.
Here's a recap of my credit report situation
Account Summary
Installment: last deliquency: 1x30 day late 06/08
New Trades: (6 mos) None
Revolving: last deliquency: 02/14, 17x30 day lates, 9x60 day lates, 11x90+ day lates
Oldest Trade: 07/87 On file: 05/90
Delinquent History
Chase Credit Card - Status: Charge off $2753 on 7/12. Closed 10/13
ATT Mobility - Status: In Collections $819. Last Reported 6/14
Portfolio (purchased a GE Capital account I used to have) - Status: In Collections $690. Last activity 9/11
Portfolio Recovery Ass - Status: In Collections $690. Last activity 12/14 (seems to be a duplicate entry of the above account, not sure why it shows last activity of 3 years later though )
Barclays Bank Credit Card - Status: Closed by creditor/Current. Closed 12/14. Couple of 30, 60 and 90 days late records, however.
Unpaid Medical - Status: Collections $142. Last activity 6/11
Credit Union Unsecured Credit Card - Status: Current but many late payments (last late payment was 2/14 - this is important as it is my last recorded late payment on any tradeline in my current credit report. Also: my limit was $2k but it was frozen while I made payments. I've made 13 consecutive on-time payments and a week ago, the VP of consumer lending at the CU agreed to open a secured share account of $500 to use as security to remove the hold on my unsecured card; she then reissued me a new unsecured card to let me build up my credit again. I've set the new card up on auto-pay and plan to use it frequently during the month, paying 91% off each month. I'm not sure if a share secure loan linked to a credit card is considered re-opening my TL (?), but she did run my credit as she was considering removing the hold altogether--when she did she saw the derogs I listed above, she said she couldn't lift the hold, but offered to open a shared secure card linked to the unsecured card as security. She knows I don't want to close the unsecured TL and said in a few months she can review and possibly restore it to a completely unsecured card.)
CBE Group (purchased a PGE unpaid electric bill) - Status: Collections $100. Deliquency date 4/14
Bridgeport Financial (unpaid Medical) - Status: Collections $72. Last activity: not sure, but it was reported on 10/13 and that's the most recent date in this entry
3 Student Loans from my university - Status: Current wih Late Payments on each 6/08. I'd like to GW the several late payments noted on each of the 3 loans to see if that increases my score. Do you think that's a good idea?
SYNCB/SMRTCN (credit card? Shows purchased from another vendor) - Status: Closed/Charge off 12/11, Last Activity 2/12
BALANCE: $6076.
Positive History
I have 8 current / positive accounts. They're all student loans reporting on-time payments and now current/paid off in full.
So that's my credit report.
After running my credit, my mortgage broker noted my mid-score of 613 and wrote: "Here's what I found: the soonest we can look at financing a home purchase for you is May of 2015. The reason May is the soonest is because your credit report needs to reflect a full 12 months of no reported late payments. Your most recent late payment referenced on your credit report is May 2014. In order to prepare you for financing, I recommend the following:
(I'm not sure why she repeately said May--there is no reference to any 5/14 dates in my credit report. I'm guessing she meant March because at the top of my credit report it says "Last Delinquency 2/14".)
Questions:
1. Open TLs: I only have one TL/revolving credit account - the credit union credit card with a secured share account attached to it. Should I try to get another secured card? Or should I just be responsible with the one I have since May (or March haha) is right around the corner? I've read that I shouldn't open new credit within 6 months of applying for a mortgage. And I've also read it's good to listen to your mortgage broker's advice.
2. GWs: Should I try to GW my student loans? It seems like a smart thing to do but the accounts are so old (6/08) I'm not sure how much removing the late payments would bump up my score.
3. PFDs: Should I try to PFD the $214 unpaid medical bills? My mortgage broker noted my $6k in unpaid debts and said they might need to be paid before closing. Not sure if I should wait and do it at closing so I can follow her advice and save as much $ as possible in the meantime. Any advice?
Thanks in advance! I know it's a long post but I wanted to give you as much info as possible.
I'm thnking your LO is giving good advice.
Definitely do NOT open anything else before closing, as for PFDing the medical bills, I would put in a call to your LO before you do anything.
Good luck, my wife and I are trying to get a mortgage however we need to raise her middle fico from a 559 to atleast a 620 or 640. We are going to try to PFD all of her old medical collections. If you do this let us know how it goes.