Hello everyone,
I could really use some help at the moment.
Some background first.
My wife and I are really trying to buy our first house and I have been working a ton of overtime to get our cards payed off. My loan officer said we should only use my credit report to get the house. My wife and I have 2 capital one cards (1 is mine and 1 I am an authorized user on, in December it. They both had a $1000 limit and they were both around $900 on each card.) I also have an orchard bank card with a $300 limit that had about $250 on it. The last card I had was a Targer red card with a $200 limit with $150 on it. I had my credit pulled and it was a 630. We will have to get a USDA loan.
Since then I have had my capital one card with the $1000 limit paid down to $366 and had the limit increased to $2000. The orchard bank card has been brought down to $46 and the Target card has $25 on it. The card I'm an authorized user on has been brought down to $766.
I was going to get my credit pulled again in February to see if my score was finally the 660 I needed to get the loan when I got hit with bad news.
I went to school in '06 for one term and found out I have a $1754 tuition bill that is still owed and is in collection. When my credit was pulled in December it wasn't on my credit report and when I called the collection agency they said that as of this moment it was not on my credit report. They also said I need to pay it off in full to make sure it doesn't get on my report.
So now my questions. 1. Is it better to pay the debt off with the what I have available on my credit cards or should I let it go on my report? I am not sure which would hurt my score worse. 2. I believe my statement date on the capital one card with the most money is on 1/27. Would that hurt my score if I maxxed the card out with the $2000 limit so much that I won't be able to get the loan on the 2/1?. 3. Should I believe this collection agency that if I pay them that it won't be on my credit report or should I deal directly with my school that I went to in '06?
I hope you guys can provide some insite for me and if you have any other suggestions for me if I missed something I would greatly appreciate it. I have worked a ton of overtime since November to get everything paid off and I will have another bigger paycheck on 2/15 to get more paid off. I am also expecting my income tax by the 15th as well. Please please help!
