topic Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620 in Understanding FICO® Scoring

I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

let — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:49:12 GMT

on the 20th of this month my CU credit card will report a balance of $28 limit is $1,000.

Other cards that have already reported

1st premier $90 $250 limit

HSBC $50 $300

Creditone Bank will report on the 23rd of this month balance of $8.90 $200 limit. I have a loan balance of $1800, never late on this loan or any of the above cc's. My Eq is 587 and my TU is 624. Do you think I'll get enough points to raise my EQ?

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:51:36 GMT

You have about a 10% utilization on your credit cards... ideally (from what I've read / heard) you would want a 10% or less utilization so you're not far off on that regard.

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:50:55 GMT

You're at 11.79% total utilization for the cards that you've listed here (is that all of them?). BUT, FP is at 36%, HSBC is at 16.6%. If all of your cards are listed, then you're reporting a balance on every card. I think that you'll see the biggest boost by getting all of those cards, except one to report zero, allowing only one to report a balance that's no more than 1 to 9% of your credit limit.

So, for this month, can you get your credit union card paid off before the 20th, and creditone paid off before they report on the 23rd?

I don't know if that's going to be enough to get you to 620 this month. Were you previously maxed out? Are there other baddies holding you back? Are any of your accounts having a birthday this month, by chance?

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

let — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:41:17 GMT

I can pay the $28 before the 20th, HBSC will report a zero balance on the 31st of August, Creditone will probably stay at $8.90, that's because I make online payments and that's the charge. FP I'm not sure when they report it will be a $20.00 balance.

On my CU cc my balance last month was $821.00 with a $1000 limit.

on TU I have a collection from Midland $939 falls off next month and a paid TWC $147 falls off dec

On EQ: I have 3 collections 2 medical one TWC paid, falls of Dec 09

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:07:18 GMT

$8.90 to make an online payment!?!? I would rethink that strategy...

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

let — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:09:12 GMT

Ok well I just paid the last of the $28 on CU cc that will report 0, HSBC will report a zero balance by 9/04, FP as of right now should report at $22 balance, but I'm going to make another payment so it will be zero, just don't know about there reporting to the CB they are all over the place. Creditone, for the $8.90 I'll send in a money order, but don't know if it'll get there by the 23rd.

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

let — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:09:56 GMT

yep! I just wanted the previous $176 off before they reported again..

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:14:58 GMT

Let,

I would like to see you get out of those Credit One and First Premier cards as soon as you are able to. Is it possible for you to scrounge up some pennies to get a secured card from BOA or Citi (a REAL bank) that would total those limits so you can fire those cards? Even 2/3s of the limits will be better than paying those crappy fees just to pay your bill online. God I'm so glad I burned Credit One.....proudly! LOL

I went the FP route myself (Rewards 660....) they apparently thought it was fraudulent to pay my credit card twice in one month. They then wanted me to fax a copy of my bank debit card. I told them to go *stuff* themselves. The stupidity of it was I had a balance that they were will to accept from me to pay it off in full with the same bank card. But would not reactivate my card. It was a crappy $300 limit card anyway, so I told them as long as I GET TO cancel it, it would be ok. Which I did and then got a BOA $1k (initially) secured card. I then upped it to @2k, for 9 months, it was secured. After that, it got unsecured and a decent $4k limit. To this day, I have yet to utilize 50% or more on that card. 40-45 percent, sure, cause I needed a washer. But ALWAYS have money to PIF. Just because I can put stuff on the card, doesn't mean I will, unless I can afford it with cash-money. LOL.

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

haulingthescoreup — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:25:14 GMT

Stop letting balances report, except on one card. You don't want 9% or less on every card, just on one card.

I'd go with the CU card as being the one that reports. I don't know when First Premie and Credit One update (probably on statement dates), but HSBC is the odd one --it reports the balance as of the last business day of the month, and it can be slow to send in the info.

I wouldn't even use the CreditOne card, with that stunt that they pull. They can probably slide for a month or two.

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

AndySoCal — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:04:19 GMT

I presume with the goal of getting to 620 you want to buy house. Correct ? If so the lender will pull all three bureaus and use the mid (middle) score of the three.

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

let — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:13:45 GMT

yes, its to qualify for a FHA mortgage. I just got notice today that a baddie has been deleted, so that leaves me with 1 baddie that falls off next month on TU, and 2 medical on EQ that are under dispute. hopefully those deletions will help me get to 620 a little faster

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:30:16 GMT

@let wrote:
yes, its to qualify for a FHA mortgage. I just got notice today that a baddie has been deleted, so that leaves me with 1 baddie that falls off next month on TU, and 2 medical on EQ that are under dispute. hopefully those deletions will help me get to 620 a little faster

Just curious, are you happy with what you're rate will be? May I ask what it is?

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

let — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:32:50 GMT

I haven't been approved just yet, but they were talking about 5.25%

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:31:41 GMT

5.25 with 620 today? I would advise you going to bankrate.com to get a better picture. I believe nationwide average is like 5.34% and that's for people with GREAT credit. (we're talking high 700s, 800s).

Mortgage brokers love to sell people on the low rate, but he is going to come back and tell you he can only do 6.5% at least.

Then you will most likely take it on the chance that maybe you'll have a couple of grand later to refi to 5.5 when your scores improved. (I was able to do just that in 5 months...I had a Wells Mortgage at 7%, then refied to BOA for 5.5% [did the FHA Streamline].)

Just giving you an idea of what to expect. FHA doesn't mean you will get low rate. Just means that if you barely qualify, you can get one, but expect the high rate.

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

let — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:36:49 GMT

I really haven't sat down with my realtor about all the rates, I'm just looking to get to 620 first. That was just a number thrown around. I'm sure with my scores I'll have a higher rate. thanks for the heads up, I'm new to all this homebuyer stuff!

Re: I'm in a time crunch to get to 620

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:45:00 GMT

@let wrote:
I really haven't sat down with my realtor about all the rates, I'm just looking to get to 620 first. That was just a number thrown around. I'm sure with my scores I'll have a higher rate. thanks for the heads up, I'm new to all this homebuyer stuff!

Trust me, I know everything you're going through right now and are going to go through. It seems that you definitely will push forward, though I would personally advise on getting your mid score to at least 680 so that your initial rate isn't that bad. However, if you have any questions about the mortgage process as all this stuff is still fresh in my mind about the process, feel free to ask. (Probably best to do it in the mortgage forum...lol).