Rebuilding Your Credit

[BJH]

I applied for an FHA mortgage today and my middle score for the three reports was 5 points too low to qualify.  5 points should be fairly easy to get back, but the inquiry probably cost me at least that many points. I'll check my score in a few weeks to see where I stand. 

[John060675]

Sorry to hear that you narrowly missed with your middle score.  I do not think the inquiry will hurt you that much.  If you have not, try to pay down your credit cards to below 9% utilization, if they are not already, and I think you will see the score bump up enough.

Good luck.

[llecs]

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BJH wrote:

I applied for an FHA mortgage today and my middle score for the three reports was 5 points too low to qualify.  5 points should be fairly easy to get back, but the inquiry probably cost me at least that many points. I'll check my score in a few weeks to see where I stand. 

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The inquiry damage doesn't hit when you apply. Since FICO takes your mortgage inquiries within a given time frame and only scores one of them, that score hit, if any at all, won't be felt or seen until the inquiry window expires. The fastest way to improve your score is via improving revolving util.

[Booner72]

@ llecs:  What do you mean "Until the inquiry window expires" ?  That the points will drop off 14-30 days after the inquiry?

[llecs]

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Booner72 wrote:

@ llecs:  What do you mean "Until the inquiry window expires" ?  That the points will drop off 14-30 days after the inquiry?

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Right. Per mortgage inquiries (and I think auto too), the point hit, if any, does not occur until the 14-30-45 day window has passed  (window varies by CRA and FICO version). When we applied for our home in December, exactly 30 days had passed and with everything being exactly equal because I had pulled the day prior, my score dropped 3 pts due to the inquiry. I inquiried further and indeed FICO delays any score hit until after the window expires.