hELP needed to buy a house-pay off CCs

[Anonymous]

Hello,

First of all, thank you for taking your time to read and provide any assistance.

We had a rough 2017 and fell behind on our CC payments and had to enroll in Family credit management. Most of my CC accounts were closed, but they are all reporting to bureaus. We have a mortgage on my profile which is current and paid by my inlaws. We are in the process of buying a house for ourselves and would like to improve my middle score to qualify for an FHA loan (580+) as for my lender. I do not have any collections or charge accounts. I just finished paying off my auto loan last month. it was a 60-month installment(Not reported yet). In addition, IM enrolled with LEXINGTON to get some of the lates removed. Below is where I'm currently. The next two-three months I will have some extra cash (1000 a month) to pay down some of the loans. but I want to know which ones I could pay down to get the maximum gain in fico score to qualify for a mortgage. I was just approved for a cap 1 300 limit unsecured card, it's not reported yet. 

CLOSED ACCOUNTS -  BAL - LIMIT - UTI - WORST ACCOUNT STATUS ALL CURRENT (enrolled in credit management )

SYNC/Care Credit Du 5653 - 5750 98% 120 days past due $ 122 min

American Express 3159 - 2000 158% 120+ past due $80 min

CITI CARD 1291 -1200 108%  60 days past due 33 min

JC Penny 375 - 420 89% 30 days past due 10 min

BOA 8500 - 7854 92% 60 DAYS PAST DUE 158 min 

paypal 1975 - 2110 94% no lates 70 min

macys 1612 - 1500 107%  60 days past due 50 min

OPEN ACCOUNTS 

Best buy 1250 - 1500 83%  60 days past due 

Current FICO scores  EQ 617, TU 570 EX 583

Current Mortgage Version 538, 573 and 524

Thank you guys! 

[gdale6]

Im going to move this on over to the main CC forum you are liable to get more there than here on the right way to pay off the balances

[HeavenOhio]

88.9% of your limit is considered maxed. Above that is a pretty hard ding. So I'd make the first order of business to bring down your balances to 80–85% and not let them get any higher. The reason for the cushion is that you'll be charged interest each month. You'll want to stay under 88.9% when that hits.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, i appreciate the support 

[Anonymous]

Thank you, I will try to bring them down to less than 88.9. I might be able to do the smaller balances first and leave the Ammex for now. 

so far Lexington was able to remove 3 lates from my Equifax. 

[Anonymous]

Will opening a secured discover card help with my current situation or is it best to tackle the balances first?

[fltireguy]

Opening another card is not a solution at all... Getting a few of those balances down will help you a LOT

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I will keep you guys posted on the journey. 

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@fltireguywrote:
Opening another card is not a solution at all... Getting a few of those balances down will help you a LOT

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[Chickenpotpie]

Say no to credit for now, its why you're in this predicament and getting more will not help here.  In fact it could really hurt you depending on the house situation.

Btw it can take some time for your scores to go up, just be aware of that.   1K a month is,  I'm sorry to say, low for this situation.  If you can get more, it would help.

There's no guarantee this  will bring up the scores right away, but, they will be done with and off the list.    Start at the bottom and catch the low hanging fruit.  Pay most on those, then pay the minimum on the highest ones.  Right now you just need to keep those from being any later than they already are.  But lowest ones are low hanging fruit, easy enough of a target to get done with.

Lates don't immediately disappear, and expect to get plenty of resistance from the banks on this.  Some of them will not budge no matter who may promise you different.

I think you need at least a couple of years to get this under control@ 1K a month.  I don't want to discourage you, just want you to look at this realistically.

When I first came here, I messed up bad.  I had to humble myself and take in the information  because trust and believe, its invaluable.  You have a very serious problem that needs to be addressed before trying to buy a house.  

What has your lender said about the rate you might expect?    

[Anonymous]

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@Chickenpotpiewrote:

Say no to credit for now, its why you're in this predicament and getting more will not help here.  In fact it could really hurt you depending on the house situation. Ok, thank you. Only reason I opened it to have a positive tradeline and keep the utilization under 10%. 

Btw it can take some time for your scores to go up, just be aware of that.   1K a month is,  I'm sorry to say, low for this situation.  If you can get more, it would help. Of course thats the plan. 

There's no guarantee this  will bring up the scores right away, but, they will be done with and off the list.    Start at the bottom and catch the low hanging fruit.  Pay most on those, then pay the minimum on the highest ones.  Right now you just need to keep those from being any later than they already are.  But lowest ones are low hanging fruit, easy enough of a target to get done with. I think as many suggested I will try to bring the utilization across the board under 88.9% and then target to pay of the lowest balances. I'm afraid to completely pay them off, since it will not report anymore since the accounts are closed. It may have an effect on the age of my credit?

Lates don't immediately disappear, and expect to get plenty of resistance from the banks on this.  Some of them will not budge no matter who may promise you different. Yes, i know. I'm not expecting too much from lexington. At this point I do not have nothing to loose and will give it a go for a couple of months.  

I think you need at least a couple of years to get this under control@ 1K a month.  I don't want to discourage you, just want you to look at this realistically. I do appreciate your input. No pun intened. I have been with Credit management for the past 6 months and trust me I feel good. I paid off nearly $ 4000 without adding a single penny to the balances. When I started to monitor the Fico about 4 months ago My middle score was around 479. 

When I first came here, I messed up bad.  I had to humble myself and take in the information  because trust and believe, its invaluable.  You have a very serious problem that needs to be addressed before trying to buy a house.  Trust me I have changed my ways and I do not want to be in a mess like This. I really worked hard to salvage my credit profile and at that time credit management really helped me and I'm glad that none of the accounts didnt go on collections. 

What has your lender said about the rate you might expect?   It's about 5-5.50%. My plan is to refinance after a year to bring the interest down or pay for a point. I do not want to wait as the house prices are soaring in California. 

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