Trying to buy a house

[mauve]

Are you both on both cards?  Then it doesn't matter which one reports the balance.  If he's only on the $1250 card, I'd have that one report $0.  I'd really focus on trying to re-open those closed cards, though. 

Since you pulled reports from here, you should look at what they calculate your utilization to be - figure out which accounts are going into that. 

FYI, the TU score from here is probably close to the lender's version, but not exact - it's an older calculation model (TU98 vs. TU04).  I've heard that for 600-range scores, the TU04 (the lender version) will tend to be lower than the TU98 and that pattern reverses in the 700-range.

You need to get those revolving balances down / gone - utilization is 30% of your score and if you're at 100% utilization, paying that down / off can result in a ~100 point jump.

[Anonymous]

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@mauve wrote:

Are you both on both cards?  Then it doesn't matter which one reports the balance.  If he's only on the $1250 card, I'd have that one report $0.  I'd really focus on trying to re-open those closed cards, though. 

Since you pulled reports from here, you should look at what they calculate your utilization to be - figure out which accounts are going into that. 

FYI, the TU score from here is probably close to the lender's version, but not exact - it's an older calculation model (TU98 vs. TU04).  I've heard that for 600-range scores, the TU04 (the lender version) will tend to be lower than the TU98 and that pattern reverses in the 700-range.

You need to get those revolving balances down / gone - utilization is 30% of your score and if you're at 100% utilization, paying that down / off can result in a ~100 point jump.

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The $500 card is mine and my husband is the authorized user and my husband's card has teh $1250 and I am listed as an authorized user.  We have tried to reopen the cards and they said that we would have to reapply and we didnt' want to take the hit from the inquiry.

I will go in and check to see what is included in our utilization.  I went in and check my total $ amount that was in the revolving and it only lists the balance that is on my one credit card.  So do I have any hope at this point?

thanks!

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The $500 card is mine and my husband is the authorized user and my husband's card has teh $1250 and I am listed as an authorized user.  We have tried to reopen the cards and they said that we would have to reapply and we didnt' want to take the hit from the inquiry.

I will go in and check to see what is included in our utilization.  I went in and check my total $ amount that was in the revolving and it only lists the balance that is on my one credit card.  So do I have any hope at this point?

thanks!

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There are no hopeless situations. I'm convinced of that. I'm not saying you'll be able to get your scores to where you need them to be in the time frame you mention but you can get your scores up by aggressively paying down those balances.

And if you have to wait to get a house then so be it. That's just the way life is sometimes. If you do have to wait that will offer an opportunity to get your scores and your overall financial picture in much better shape.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".