New Here :o) - Loan Approval & Paying down a debt question

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone! I've been lurking and reading as much information as I can possibly stand in the past week or so. I have already learned so much! My husband and I just submitted a loan application today for a new construction home. I pulled my credit scores from experience and was surprised to see such a difference between the 3 reports. The scores were:

Experian 600 Equifax 609 and TransUnion 651

However when I signed up today for score watch today it said my Equifax score was 621. So I'm a little unsure of what is "right".

Anyways my first question related to mortgage loans has to due with paying off a credit card while in the home buying process. My husband has a credit card that has a balance of $8000 that we may be able to pay off in May. Now I've always heard to not touch anything (credit wise) while buying a house. Does this stand true even if paying something off will improve your credit score?

Thank you!

[thankfulheart]

Chances are, your 3 scores are "FAKOs" and should not be taken seriously.  The Equifax score from MyFico has always aligned with lender pulls for me and is my barometer of how things are going.  A lender will be looking at a middle score, however, so watching reports to make sure they align closely and are as clean as possible matters.

As for paying off a CC, there is no negative impact to paying one off and it will certainly boost your score, at least a little, depending on your current balances.  The key is not to apply for any NEW credit during the process or do anything that would harm (have a late or a collection).