Should I add a couple of credit cards to boost my mortgage scores before applying for mortgage?

[myscore1]

I want to apply for a mortgage within four weeks. I have never been big on credit cards and I only have TWO bank cards and TWO store cards.  

1- Will adding a couple of cards now boost my scores when they update next month? or...

2- Will I lose a few points with the inquiries and the new accounts?

I have a mortgage loan, a car loan, an installment loan and a few other accounts that are still showing although they are not open. My reports only have ONE inquiry which will drop off in september. My mortage scores are about 20 points lower than my FICO 8 scores, for whatever reason....My DTI is 10 %. Credit history is 25 years. Last account opened was 4 years ago (car). No credit card applications in 10 years.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

[Imperfectfuture]

No. Bad timing. The best score boosts are in the rebuild your credit forum, and get as many baddies off report before final pull.

[Gunnar419]

No, don't apply for any new credit within six months of making a mortgage application. Banks view it as credit-seeking behavior and think you're planning to run up other debts. Despite your mortgage FICOs being lower than your cc FICOs, your profile looks pretty strong already.

If you want to push your scores up a little more, is there anything else you can do, such as pay down cc debt, that won't put new inquiries on your CR?

[StartingOver10]

Don't apply for new credit now that you are going to apply for a mortgage very soon. You have more than enough accounts and you don't want to reduce your AAoA. 

You don't say what your utilization is on each card and if they both carry balances.  Pay all except one to zero before it reports and make sure the one that is reporting a balance shows less than 9% of its credit limit. This will optimize your scores. Yes, there is a difference in your score if you have a balance at 9% as opposed to 10%. 

What type of mortgage are you seeking?  FHA, VA, USDA or Conventional?  Only the Conventional mortgage types are score sensitive. What will be your LTV? This makes a difference on whether you pay PMI or not.  PMI is score sensitive and LTV sensitive. Above 680 and a conventional mortgage is more cost effective for you.  Above 740 gets you the best mortgage rates and above 760 gets you the best PMI rates.  However, you can get very good PMI and mortgage rates at 720 and above.

[Anonymous]

+1

[myscore1]

Thanks everyone!  I am going for a conventional mortgage. My credit utilization is exactly 10%. I don't think I have time to remove baddies left, so I will see how it goes. I guess the only thing I can do is pay off the credit cards and keep the utilization around 1-2% and see what it does to the scores. I will keep you all posted next month.