Another question

[Anonymous]

If I were to draw money out of my retirement fund and pay off credit cards and bring my mortgage current, would my credit score immediately go up?  I'm thinking about paying my mortgage forward and paying bills off.  Then I will focus on making extra money to put back in my IRA with a second job or a home business.  Does that make sense?

[fused]

Welcome to the forums! How far behind are you on your credit cards and mortgage? Are these accounts reporting late payments, etc.?

[marty56]

First off, what are you trying to accomplish in raisng your FICO score.  If you are behind in your mortgage payments or credit card payments, recent lates will mute any pay down of CC debt.  An IRA loan will require payment back right away if you loose your job so I would be carefull if you go that road.

Before resorting to taking money out of your IRA, you should understand the full impact of this action.  You should cut all spending that isnt reall needed and if there still isnt enough money, I would get the second job.  I would not do a home business.

[Anonymous]

I am two months behind on my mortgage with no to catch up.  I've got a relatively large credit card debt.  Like a viscious circle:  the mortgage got so high that I paid it and then lived on credit cards.  Now the credit card debt is high (over $16,000) and I can pay minimums, but barely.  The two months I didn't pay the mortgage, I was able to reduce my credit card debt by a couple thousand.  I'm thinking of ways to generate more income, but that will take a few months.  I can take a retirement distribution without penalty as I am 60, but I'll still have to pay taxes on it.  The problem is that my mortgage lender has reported me and my FICO score has dropped from 789 in June to 600 as of today.