I have been on this forum for a few months and can not be more thankful for all I have learned in such a short time. I've been able to use advice here to squeeze out an additonal 10-15 points just by allocating my CC payments differently to get a 740 middle score needed for a Mortgage.
That said, I think I can still be better or smarter. With what choices i make, what I pay down first and im also not as up to speed on what will organically help or hurt me. For instance accounts aging, installment loans aging, opening new accounts, balance transfers. Some of what has helped so far:
- Payed to get below thresholds, get low hanging fruit to 0
- Balance transfer from my highest interest rate card that was 99% Util (down to 80%) to my lowest rate card that went from 37-42%
- Pressed for CLI's through online requests which got me an additional 15K in CL
Right now im getting spammed by snail mail, email, and online ads for 0% interest CC's and it is really attractive. But probably not worth it if the limit wasnt at least 5K. I'm also searching for a home and in the pre-approval process for a mortgage and dont want to hurt that. I know you cant have your cake and eat it to when it comes to debt and credit. but from a 12 to 24 month perspective what moves should I make and avoid and what organically can i expect.
How bad of an idea is getting a BT card when applying for a morgage. is it like dont do it bad, or is it like homer simpson "doh" bad? If i did get a BT card how long should i wait before applying for mortgage preapproval again?
What hit would my credit score take applying for a BT card given:
- 1-7 of my 8 cards would go to 0 balance (depdning on the BT limit i get)
- id have 1 new account with a 0 mos age history
- MY Util would go down depending on the limit
- Hard Inquiry
What score bumps can i expect for installment and CC ages going to 1 or 2 years?
below is my report. thanks in advance for any advice:
| Account | Balance | Limit | Ratio | APR | AoA |
| Walmart | $0.00 | $1,450.00 | 0.0% | 22.90% | 4 yrs, 5 mos |
| Paypal | $1,663.00 | $3,500.00 | 47.5% | 25.49% | 4 yrs, 9 mos |
| Amazon | $4,992.00 | $6,000.00 | 83.2% | 27.49% | 2 yrs, 8 mos |
| Venture | $2,944.00 | $7,000.00 | 42.1% | 17.99% | 1 yrs, 9 mos |
| Amex | $4,995.00 | $8,500.00 | 58.8% | 22.49% | 3 yrs, 3 mos |
| QuickSilver | $690.00 | $9,000.00 | 7.7% | 22.99% | 6 yrs, 4 mos |
| CareCredit | $0.00 | $15,000.00 | 0.0% | 21.49% | 4 yrs, 9 mos |
| Total | $15,284.00 | $50,450.00 | 30.3% | 22.98% | AAoA 4 yrs |
Auto Loan (11 months old) $ 17,878
Student Loan (17 years, 8 months old) 34,546
9 Hard inqueriers: 3 from between August-October 2018. 3 from Feb-may 2019. 3 from Jan - may 2020.
0 collections/deragatories/baddies
100% payment history.
