topic Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me! in Rebuilding Your Credit

Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 06:03:49 GMT

I have been trying to get my middle mortgage score up above 660 and after tonight I’ve accepted that it’s not going to happen in time and it’s super annoying.

have numerous baddies, including a few 30D, 60D, 90D. The most recent on 1/2017 which was a 30-day on the mortgage. I have a total of 3 charge off accounts, all over 3 years old. One is paid and shows zero balance, One is unpaid and shows a $460 balance BUT hasn’t reported since 4/2017. (I don’t want to wake it up) The last one is reporting and showing a balance of $543. All the baddies were over a 6-8 month period when a took a massive pay cut when I switched careers in 2016-2017. I’ve tried goodwill letters but no luck yet.

Below is my before/after results

6/10/2020

EQ FICO5 = 655

TU FICO4 = 622

EX FICO2 = 636

Cap1 PL (7600/7750) 98%

Cap1QS (1000/1650) 61%

Cap1Walmart (139/480) 30%

CitiRewards (1846/3000) 63%

Chase (AU) (2656/5000) 53%

BoA (709/1000) 71%

Total Utilization (14141/18880) 75%

10/10/20 Update

EQ FICO5 = 659

TU FICO4 = 631

EX FICO2 = 636

Cap1 PL (6620/7750) 86%

Cap1QS (0/1650) 0%

Cap1Walmart (0/480) 0%

CitiRewards (0/3000) 0%

Chase (AU) (2725/5000) 55%

BoA (289/1000) 29%

Total Utilization (9634/18880) 51%

*Side note* The BoA has since been paid down to $0 and will report in 2-3 more days. The Chase (AU) has been paid down to $2400 and reports on 10/19. Once that hits the reports, my overall UT will be at 48% As mentioned above, the $543 chargeoff was also settled and paid but hasn’t reported. They told me up to 60 days to report and it’s only been 30. I know the AZEO method but it’s not within my means to pay down the AU and removing myself from it will reduce my AAoA to 6 years. My AU is 23 years old.

How is it possible that I’ve crossed several individual card utilization thresholds and an aggregate threshold and I only gained a couple of points?!?!?

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

AllZero — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 02:43:23 GMT

You utilization is killing you. Which in turn, is affecting your scores. Reduce your utilization to increase scores.

Remember these aggregate utilization thresholds: 8.9%, 28.9%, 48.9%, 68.9%, 88.9%
Remember these individual utilization thresholds: 28.9%, 48.9%, 68.9%, 88.9%

I would recommend reading the below from ABCD2199
The Truth about Credit Card Utilization
My 11 Rules to Credit Rebuilding
FICO Score: What to pay down first?

From Birdman7
General Scoring Primer and Version 8 Master Thread rev.5.17.20

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

AllZero — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 02:49:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
How is it possible that I’ve crossed several individual card utilization thresholds and an aggregate threshold and I only gained a couple of points?!?!?

To my understanding, aggregate is the primary scoring factor, followed by individual utilization.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 02:50:47 GMT

Hmm

I removed someone from being an AU on my Chase card earlier this year. It didn't wipe it off their report, it changed to closed/terminated, so they retained the history.

If that works for you, it may be to your benefit.

A trick to getting it to update to that status fast would be to:

Have the primary cardholder call in to remove you as an AU, but ensure it stays on as a closed account.

Have the primary cardholder pay any amount to the card ($1 works).

Once the payment posts, call in for a mid-cycle update on the card, and it should update for you too, *probably*

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 03:01:23 GMT

@AllZero @ I completely understand how UT works. I’ve spent days reading these forums. That’s mainly why I’m angry with the lack of score change. I crossed an aggregate UT threshold and several individual card thresholds and it had a very insignificant impact on my scores. I don’t understand how the middle score didn’t move a single point. It makes no sense to me.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

AllZero — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 03:18:22 GMT

@Anonymous. When do you plan to apply for mortgage?

What MMS are you trying to achieve?

Once those two accounts report (BoA and Chase) you should see a score increase crossing the 49% aggregate threshold.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 03:28:57 GMT

@AllZero I have already applied and been approved but I have to pay 1.5 discount points ($6000) to get the lowest rate. If I had a 660 MMS, I could get that rate for $4500, 680 for $3500, 700 for $2000, etc.

The LO agreed to do a rapid rescore a week before we close, to make sure I’m getting the best possible deal. I should be closing in 2-3 weeks.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

AllZero — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 04:39:41 GMT

@Anonymous You are in a tight window.

You can try to wait to see what the score improvements will be with the new reported utilization before proceeding with a plan of action.

For EX2 it likes true AZEO. Meaning primary card at AZEO and AU account at Zero. If TU4, EQ5 followings the older scoring algorithm, then it should be the same. If those are your revolving accounts as posted in message 1, then you are still at ~33% (2/6) of accounts reporting a balance. You want to get around 20-25% (1/6) of accounts reporting a balance for the next threshold. I understand you do not have the means for the AU card.

Besides your own high reported utilization on the C1 Platinum, the AU Chase card may be hurting you score wise with it's own utilization and included in number of accounts reporting a balance factor. You may want to consider removing yourself as AU as an option. It's something to consider if you are trying to squeeze out every last available point.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 04:33:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@AllZero I have already applied and been approved but I have to pay 1.5 discount points ($6000) to get the lowest rate. If I had a 660 MMS, I could get that rate for $4500, 680 for $3500, 700 for $2000, etc.

The LO agreed to do a rapid rescore a week before we close, to make sure I’m getting the best possible deal. I should be closing in 2-3 weeks.

I know with my SO having a singular card report high util, it killed his mortgage scores. I am not saying he had great mortgage scores to begin with, but just 1 card reporting high util made them nosedive! We have been bring it down, every month crossing a threshold (we can pay it off, but we are just testing, and have no intention to app for anything at this time), and the scores are only slowly rising. We will cross under the 49% UT (to 48%) next week and from my understanding crossing under 49% is a big milestone, so we shall see. I feel almost certain we will not see the biggest boosts until we are under 29% and then again under 9%.

For him aggregate is under 29% currently and still has not recovered his mortgage scores. I think this individual card reporting high util is the sole culprit.

EX2 633 > 601 > 608

EQ5 653 > 584 (70pts!) > 600

TU4 596 > 570 > ?

So far, getting aggregate under 29% UT and individual from maxxed to under 69% UT did little in terms of increasing his mortgage scores. I will know more this next week if bringing that individual under 49% UT will garner a boost. Big or small, we will see.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Jnbmom — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 04:24:05 GMT

As others having stated your utilization is high and what is keeping your scores down.

Pay those down and your scores will improve.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

OmarGB9 — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 08:42:35 GMT

Utilization is really high on that AU card and the Cap One account. Amounts owed is worth more than credit age; twice as much, in fact (30% vs 15%), so the AU card in this case isn't helping because of the near 50% util being reported.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 09:58:26 GMT

@OmarGB9 @That AU card reports next week and will be at 48%, therefore crossing another individual UT threshold and my aggregate UT will also be at 48%. My concern is during this last big paydown my score didn’t react the way it should have, according to what I’ve read on here about thresholds. I understand what everyone is saying about UT and AZEO but none of that explains why my score didn’t do anything when I had a major paydown.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 13:23:15 GMT

Those thresholds help with mortgage scores, but their effect is bigger on classic FICO8 scores. Mortgage scores don't react as strongly to the standard thresholds as FICO8s do, as you're seeing. The biggest thing for mortgage scores is zero balance accounts, the more the better. AZEO is key with the lowest possible balance reported on the EO card. That's where you'll boost them. Paydown thresholds help but not nearly as much as zero-balance tradelines.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

newmomnewme — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 17:37:02 GMT

@Anonymous I understand not being able to pay anything else down atm. Do you have any accounts that are eligible for SP CLI now to help UTIL by padding?
Cap1 and BoA do SP CLI requests right? What about Citi? I'm assuming Chase is a guaranteed HP...ugh

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 13:53:15 GMT

@newmomnewme I’m not sure who does soft pull CLI’s. I was worried about doing any CLI’s and having it end up as a hard pull then adversely effecting my scores.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 14:08:47 GMT

Typical:

SP - CapOne, Amex, Disco, Synchrony, BoA

HP - Chase, US Bank, NFCU, PenFed, Citi

There are others, and some variations (if it's an auto-CLI, Citi and Chase are SP, but are HP when you request one, for example).

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

newmomnewme — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 14:21:38 GMT

@Anonymous Maybe temporally freeze your reports for a week or two.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 17:42:39 GMT

Just an update and data point. My BoA account reported a zero balance and I pulled my CR again after to see the results. No change in scores. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Waiting on my AU account to report on 10/18, which will move that account below 48% UT which will also result in my aggregate UT going from 51% down to just below 48%. I’ll do another pull once that reports.

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

newmomnewme — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 19:44:10 GMT

@Anonymouskeep up the good work!! I look forward to reading about your progress. Reporting back will also help you stay positive and on the right track.,Have a great weekend!

Re: Mortgage scores are KILLING me!

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 21:00:42 GMT

Another Update: This sucks!

So the Chase AU account reported a 46% UT down from 51% which also brought my aggregate UT down from 50% to 48%. So I crossed the 49% “Threshold” on that card and on aggregate. The scores didn’t react much, extremely disappointing. My Experian FICO 8 went up ONE point and my Experian FICO 5 went up FOUR points. For some reason my EQ and TU haven’t reported the new balances yet. Experian is my middle score, so that’s really all that matters right now.