HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

[Holly1221]

I did a Pre-Qual for a mortgage, found a house, put down earnest $ & got purchase contract only to be told by lender I now need to raise my score by about 30 points or come up with 6.5% more down. (my score had actually went up 3 pts since we talked 2 wks ago & I got the pre-Qual...so, he lied the 1st time).

I have 10 credit cards that are at 87% util right now & will be able to pay them down in the next week to 6 cards @ 28% utilization and 4 cards @ 45% util. 

Scorewatch simulator shows this should raise me 40-60 points. 

Any help or ideas?  I read about the credit card co reporting dates & maybe I can get lender to have them resubmit new scores.  I'm scared to shop another lender because it can hurt my score.  I'm supposed to close in Dec.

[llecs]

I'd get your CC balances down further. Also, more $0 balances you have the better (though I'd leave 1 with a very small balance). Plan your statement dates. Most CCs report around your statement date and will report the balance you had on that date. I'd do a spreadsheet ranking the soonest statement dates to the furthest, and pay the soonest to $0 ASAP. You would still be dinged heavily with 45% and 28% individual util. You also want to time the statement dates because it costs $$$ to have a rapid rescore done.

Rate shopping won't hurt your score if you do it within a general time frame of 30-45 days. FICO ignores all but one mortgage inquiry during that period.

[Holly1221]

Thank you!!  I will pay these down (the ones with nearest stmt date to $0) then shop around after they hit my report.  Most of the cards have stmt dates in the next week or two & I called to verify date they report to cb .

My median score is a 555 right now & I need at least a 580 for FHA but if I could get to 620 that would be even better (I know I'm probably dreaming for a quick recovery).  This is a first home purchase & realtor said they could do an extension for financing but I don't know how long. This is so disheartening to be blind-sided by the mortgage lender at the last minute.  (I can only blame myself for not being credit wise tho)

[Anonymous]

I so understand, we are going thru the same thing! so if u get anywhere let me know

[IOBA]

Did the lender explain the difference between a pre-qual and pre-approved?

Pre-qualified - they take the information you give them and say you are pre-qualified.  The lender does not pull your credit.

Pre-approved - they pull your credit and can give you a better picture of what you will qualify for at that moment.

Pay as much as you can on the cc's...if you can pay them off, pay them off!

I hope things work out for you.

[Holly1221]

I looked up the difference after we spoke & new it wasn't a pre-approval but he did pull my credit report from Equifax & told me my score over the phone (I had 553 mid & he said they go as low as 540 but most places are 620)....told me my debt ratio and how high they can go for debt ratio (20% more than where I was at).  We emailed several times & I asked him if there was anything else that would make me not qualify & he said as long as my income verified (and it did) everything would be ok.  After I emailed purch contract, W-2's, ck stubs, tax returns he sent an email saying "with underwriter's becoming more conservative...you need a 580 mid FICO to go over 90% now"  (wow...it changed that much from Oct 4 to Oct 28???)...So, I could come up with 6.5% more down or he can send me a letter to get my earnest money back.  No big deal to him but now I have a contract in the works & need to get my son in a better school system.  I HAVE to get my score up!!!

[Holly1221]

So excited to see how this turns out!!  Paid 3 cc's completely off & the other 7 down to 27-33% utilization.  I'm praying for a good increase in my score (my cards were 87-95% utliz).

I think I should've hit all cut-off & reporting dates for all cards.  If not I've heard you can request a current statement (after pmt posts) from cc company, find out what agency they report to & ask them to provide the client id# so you can fax info in to have cb update it.  Anyone heard of this before??

[Booner72]

Hi, Haw - yep that's called Rapid Rescore.  Pretty common and the mortgage lender should NOT charge you to do this.  They pay.

I hope you get the points you need!

[Holly1221]

Thanks!  I read a little about that on here...I'll have to look into it again.  So much GOOD info on here!  I have a friend at work ready to "get her act together" too!! 

[Anonymous]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're working with a national lender who's initials are WF? Sounds like the same old story from those guys...