topic Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE in Understanding FICO® Scoring

HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 14:28:52 GMT

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.

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

llecs — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:29:17 GMT

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.

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:23:14 GMT

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)

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Anonymous — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:06:56 GMT

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

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

IOBA — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 02:00:23 GMT

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.

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Anonymous — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 02:35:27 GMT

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!!!

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 02:37:57 GMT

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??

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Booner72 — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 02:42:21 GMT

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!

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 02:44:50 GMT

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!!

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:22:17 GMT

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...

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:02:04 GMT

No, online lender....another name for a hug...starts with an "E"

If anyone has any suggestions on who I should try to apply with (AFTER my pmts post & score increases) please PM me. I live in NW Indiana.

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Booner72 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:15:34 GMT

hhhm. Your crossword clue has me puzzled and I'm not even kidding. Same as hug?

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

poops — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:55:23 GMT

Embrace...

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:21:49 GMT

**ding**....correct answer Poops! I'm new to posting so didn't know if I could/should put their name on here or not.

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:47:49 GMT

UPDATE: SW has my score up 10 pts since 10/29!!! That's only with ONE of my 10 cc paydowns reported!! I got a 7 pt increase 2 days ago & I think that was because 2 old inquiries fell off. I think at least 3 or 4 cards reported in the last couple of days so should hopefully see those increases shortly......Praying!!

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE

GoodCredBen — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:59:14 GMT

yeah i could get approved right now for FHA, but they req 10% down for a house.. .x.x no way in heck do i wanna pay 10% down

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE *** 11/13/11 UPDATE

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:56:14 GMT

So EXCITED!! Couldn't stand waiting for SW to update (I've got 2 alerts so far but only 1 cc payment showing) so I just pulled another report just now.

Drum roll.............................22 point increase from 10/29/11 to 11/13/11 with 3 cards left to report!!

I need 3 more points and feel certain I will get that since the last 3 cards to report were at 87% utilization+ down to 1 paid off & 2 under 20%.

I also was using True Credit to track payments on TransUnion. It's been said on here before but proof that True Credit scoring is not accurate............I gained 22 points on True Credit then 2 of my cc payments hit & an inquiry dropped off & I lost 18 points.....nothing else changed & I've read all the scenarios on here so ....don't EVER count on True Credit's score!!!

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE *** 11/13/11 UPDATE

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:52:37 GMT

Can you pay all the cards down to <10% even if you have to use them a load during the next month as you used so much cash on hand to pay them down? They only need to be below 10% on the day your statement runs, so try using them through the month then paying them down before the statement date. You can cycle it this way if you need to and this will really keep your score down.

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE *** 11/13/11 UPDATE

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:02:47 GMT

I just hit the statement cutoffs for this month & paid them down as far as I can for now. I could only get my JCP card to do a mid-cycle reporting update so I think if I can hit my requirement with what I've done so far, I will have to finish the paydowns/offs before next statement. If I don't make the score needed, I may have to get an extension for financing which I'm trying so hard to avoid!!

I am so thankful for everyone on this forum! There is such a great amount of info on this forum that anyone can take charge & clean up their past mistakes as I am now! I am proud to admit that this is my new "addiction"!!

Re: HELP!! NEED TO RAISE SCORE FAST FOR MORTGAGE *** 11/13/11 UPDATE

Booner72 — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:16:42 GMT

Congrats, Holly! I was doing exactly what you are going through - paid the cards, waiting for them to hit, seeing the score go up up up. In the end, Transunion saved the day for me, 13 points over 640. So remember, you really only need to get two of your scores up - Maybe you're already there and u just don't know it.