After a year of working on my credit after a tragic divorce and finishing doctor school, I put 15 acres under contract for a construction loan in Texas
thanks to y'all 
I was lucky enough to find a lender who will finance me with a credit score of 640. I'm 10 points away right now and not sure how I can boost my score.
I know that it's not quick, but there has to be something?
I have several cards that I'm trying to keep at 8-10% utilization when they report, but despite that some months don't get any points for it. In fact, I got dinged this month for using one I hadn't used in 3 months. I seem to get decent point jumps when I pay down a balance and am half tempted to run them up one month to pay them down the next for an increased score. Is this a horrible idea?
my baddies include:
-Judgement on only the equifax report (currently disputing through the CRA as they deleted this but then put it back on without notifying me in writing)
-new collection this month (in dispute, likely will go away, has proven can't be DV'd by the previous CA who had it)
-1 30 day late on cap 1 credit card from early 2014 (I've been trying to GW, keep getting denied, just contacted the CEO)
-charge off from SYNCB in 2014, they have refused to DV (in accordance with the Tx Finance Code) through the BBB, just mailed their CEO a threatening letter regarding the Tx finance code and the history from the BBB
-4 120-150 day Lates from Navient student loans (problems deferring the loans) which they validated and refused to GW. I've demanded they DV with the Tx finance code through the advocate center, waiting for their reply
-2 charged off citi private student loans originated in 2006 (only on one CR's). These stand when disputed online, today I'm calling the CRA to get DOFD and see if I can expel them that way
revolving accounts:
7k AA card (437$ balance)
2.5k secured USAA Amex (0$)
2k everyday Amex (-100$ balance lol)
5.5k cap 1 (the starter card!) (265$ Balance)
1.5 cap 1 QS (54$ balance)
1k delta sky lies (just got this one this month, so bad for my length of credit but good for my trip to Africa next year! Will ask for CLI when I get the card)
500 Credit one (should I cancel this one? I've had it about a year) (-5$ balance)
500 care credit (64$ balance)
1.5 Amazon store card ($45 balance)
450 Victoria secret (0$)
I have stopped applying for new cards/credit lines and won't let the mortgage lender pull a report until we think I will be approved.
Car loan (originated this summer) with a Monthly payment of $527
Navient student loans (300k) are in forebarence until May 2016 and can likely continue to defer them (I'll die with them, but want to die in a house, not living in the back seat of my car)
I have 25k in the bank and make 85-120k/year depending on how much I work (a bit burnt out and want to slow down this year). I'm an independent contractor for the last year while waiting to be deployed for my next job, which is making the mortgage process even more challenging.
sorry for any typos.... I'm on my iPad in the middle east
thank you in advance for any suggestions on how to get my little ranch.
From myfico:
payment history
Your rating is Good
8 Late Payments 30+ Days
5 Collections
1 Derogatory Public Records
8 Late Payments 60+ Days
80 Percentage of Accounts Always Paid as Agreed
14 Months Since Most Recent Late Payment
Amount of debt
Your rating is Very Good
12 % Revolving Utilization percentage
35 Accounts with Balances (Most old student loans that transferred lenders)
973$ Total Balance on Revolving Accounts
Length of credit history
Your rating is Good
64 months Average Age of Accounts
154 months Age of Oldest Account
amount of new credit
Your rating is Poor
1 Month, Age of Most Recently Opened Account
5 Number of Recent Inquiries
Credit mix
Your rating is Very Good
Yes Revolving Accounts
Yes Bank-Issued Credit Card Accounts
Yes Installment Loans