TU04 vs TU08 and others

[Jutz]

Hey all, have some questions.

Recently I was going through the Pre-Qual process for a mortgage.  My Beacon EQ came back as expected, I got my long awaited and mysterious EX, and it turned out my TU surprised me the most. 

I haven't gotten a MyFICO TU98 in awhile, but the last time I did it was 670+.  My WalMart TU08 was high 670's, recently topped out at 683.  That's why when my lender told me that my TU came back at 653, the lowest of my three, I was shocked.  I didn't even qualify for a conventional mortgage because of it.  I asked what model they used, and as I expected it was TU04.  I know there's fluctuation between different models; when I was getting both TU98 and TU08 I could see that 08 was lagging behind, and seemed to be more balance sensitive, but I expected for some reason 04 would me a kind of happy medium.  Instead it was nearly 30 points lower.

Is there anything that I can do, or should know, to maximize my TU04 score?  I'd really like to have my middle score top out at 680+ to qualify for the next tier of mortgage rates (especially for a lower PMI).  The only thing I can possibly think of is how my AMEX Gold might be reporting.  I charge around $1000 every month, and it reports, obviously.  I know in certain models it may be reporting my current balance against my highest reported balance on charge cards.

Any ideas?

[bettercreditguy1]

Good evening and welcome to the forums. Perhaps you could  give us a little more credit history on your accounts. Outside of your Amex Revolver, you have not indicated baddies, charge offs, late payments, or your other credit card balances/limits. Generally speaking, reduce all cc debt below 5% if it is currently high for short term rapid results. If you would like to PM me, feel free to. Have a great evening.

[Jutz]

Thanks, I'm normally a regular over in Rebuilding, and spend time in Credit Cards, but haven't really been on the forums recently.  Here's the details:

Account	Derog	Date
BOA Platinum	30 Day Late	04/2012
BOA Platinum	30 Day Late	03/2011
BOA Platinum	30 Day Late	11/2009
BOA Gold	30 Day Late	01/2012
BOA Gold	30 Day Late	03/2011
BOA Gold	30 Day Late	10/2010
BOA Gold	90 Day Late	01/2010
BOA Gold	60 Day Late	12/2009
BOA Gold	30 Day Late	11/2009
HSBC / Best Buy	30 Day Late	01/2009
HSBC / Best Buy	30 Day Late	02/2008
Verizon Wireless	Charge-Off	01/2007

The Verizon CO only reports to EQ and TU by the way.

AAoA approx 5 years

Two open student loans, current, 20k total

Five open revolvers, $7k total lines, always report less than 10%

One open charge, Reports around $1k every month

Open auto loan, 16k

INQ prior to Lender pull <1YR

TU: 1 (10/12)

EQ: 2 (1/13)

EX: 1 (1/13)

[llecs]

TU04 ignores the Amex for util calcs. Only TU98 factored that in.

I'd keep GWing the baddies.

Have you done everything you could in terms of util? (e.g. all $0 balances reporting except for one)

[Jutz]

Welp, truly no time for GWing now.  I planned ahead and got my balances as shiny and polished as possible, but we just submitted an offer on a place today so...crossing my fingers.

[thom02099]

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@Jutz wrote:

Welp, truly no time for GWing now.  I planned ahead and got my balances as shiny and polished as possible, but we just submitted an offer on a place today so...crossing my fingers.

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Shop around for another mortgage lender.  I'm surprised that a lender would tell you that a 653 (alone) would disqualify you for a mortgage loan.  You seem to be focused exclusively on your TU score, but in my experience when getting mortgages, the lender/broker will do a tri-pull of all the CRAs (usually through Kroll Factual Data or one of the other tri-merge companies) and take your median score.  If you have all three, EX/EQ/TU, whichever one is the middle score is what they will (or should) use. 

[bettercreditguy1]

While your charge off will probably fall off next Jan/Feb, your 90 day late is hurting you the most after that.  Yes your 30 dayers hurt as well but generally not as much after two years of age. Focus on keeping everything current, using minimal amount of available credit (less than 10%) and pay in full. Try to zero out as many accounts as possible even if it means not using any credit for 60 or 90 days. This too, will enhance your score.

[Jutz]

Thanks guys.

As far as not getting approved...I was approved for FHA, but my median score was below 660, which kept me from conventional.  Currently that's not an issue as all 3 are over 660 now.

As far as squeezing every last point...I definitely know the 90 day is killing me most.  I thought I nearly had it GW'd off, but it didn't end up working out.  I had GW'd that consistently for about 8 months before I finally put it on the back burner.

I've paid or scheduled payments for any account that had a balance except for the AMEX, and I'm going to have my lender wait on rescoring until I know all balances are updated in the bureaus.

Thanks all.  My offer was accepted today, so now the process begins.