topic Best way to improve scores? in Mortgage Loans

Best way to improve scores?

armywifelong03 — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:38:01 GMT

Hello all! We are trying to get our scores to 720 to qualify for a lower down payment on our construction loan. I would love any and all advice on the quickest way to do this!

Remaining CC debt and scores below!

NFCU $22,000/$27,000

NFCU $10,000/$14,000

USAA AMEX $9,000/$11,000

My scoresHusband's scores

Re: Best way to improve scores?

CramEiko — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 13:55:23 GMT

Remaining CC debt and scores below!
NFCU $22,000/$27,000
NFCU $10,000/$14,000
USAA AMEX $9,000/$11,000

Lowering your debt % should do the trick. Each of these are well over 50% UTI. IMHO this is what's keeping your scores below 720.

Is this all the debt you have? No car loans ect?

I'm sure others will chime in with more help.

Good Luck!

Re: Best way to improve scores?

armywifelong03 — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 14:20:52 GMT

Thank you for your response! We do have two car loans, a mortgage, a personal loan and I have student loans. No lates on anything in the last 11 years. I know it is our heavy util that is holding my scores back. Ugh.

Thanks, again!

Re: Best way to improve scores?

armywifelong03 — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 00:19:57 GMT

Editing to add that we have several (4 bank, 2 retail) that are at zero balances. Most have been for about 6 months, two hve been since about two months ago.

Re: Best way to improve scores?

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:31:59 GMT

These appear to be your FICO 8 scores. You need to look at your MORTGAGE scores, which are your FICO 2, 4, and 5. You can get them on this site as well.

Re: Best way to improve scores?

fezwhy — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 17:11:57 GMT

I was in a similar situation a few years ago and was 20 points shy of qualifying. Once I paid down my balances I was able to qualify.

You are so close you can almost taste it.

Re: Best way to improve scores?

armywifelong — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 12:40:03 GMT

Sorry! To clarify, our mortgage scores are 707 and 717. We. Are. Right. There. I think I’m going to pay one card off and the other two below 48% and see what happens.

Thanks for the advice!

Re: Best way to improve scores?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 18:34:58 GMT

@armywifelong wrote:
Sorry! To clarify, our mortgage scores are 707 and 717. We. Are. Right. There. I think I’m going to pay one card off and the other two below 48% and see what happens.

Thanks for the advice!

That is certainly the right thing to do. Be certain that the remaining card is a true credit card (not a charge card) and that it has a credit limit of < 34.9k.

After you execute your plan, what will your total utilization be? (All credit limits combined?)

Re: Best way to improve scores?

armywifelong03 — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 19:13:09 GMT

That puts us right at 19% utilization, with ALL cards, including bank cards and retail/charge cards.

Re: Best way to improve scores?

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 06:22:15 GMT

Then it sounds like a good plan. You will most certainly get all the scoring points you need.