credit repair and mortgage question

[Anonymous]

Hello all, new here, I have been trying to repair credit so we can buy a bigger house. We currently own our home and will sell it, pay off two cars payments and still have left over equity to use for down payment and closing costs. Ive spoken to a couple of loan officers and must have a fico of at least 620, we are about 20 pts away. all collections have been paid and only 3 remain with the zero balance, the rest have been removed. there is a judgement on the report it states only that the judgement was for 450 dollars, it was paid before and was disputed, yet still no movement or removal. I was told by the loan officer today to appy for a secure card to possibly boost the credit score to at least 620. there is two late payments made in october of 2008 and a charge off of a credit card that has been paid in full (1-2009 CO).I have sent out GW letters but do not have my hopes up.

Experian Fako is 604

TransUnion is 607

Equifax is 584

we really have out grown our space and looking to move asap, hopefully before winter.. any tips suggestions or thoughts about our situation is appreciated. thanks!

[RobertEG]

On first blush, I dont know why in the world your loan officer would advise such a thing.

He is asing you to apply for new revolving credit while in the process of a mortage loan approval?  Hmmmm........

If you apply, whether approved or not, you will get an instant credit hit for a new inquiry.  If approved, it will then lower your AAoA.

I dont totally dismiss his advice, I just dont understand it.

Your concentration should, in my opiniion, be on PFDs and GWs to delete prior reporting, not adding additional credit.

[AndySoCal]

Since this is a mortgage the 620 must be the mid (middle) score. the mid score is the remaining score after the highest and the lowest are removed. Look at the Trans Union and or Equifax credit report I presume they are from my Fico. Look at the score reasons the ones that are hurting your score. They are listed in order of impact.  See if you what you can do (if anything) to address those reason(s). I would guess one of them is about a serious delinquency from the information in your post. I Would work on Equifax and or Experian credit reports. (ignore the reasons on the Experian report).  If what you do also help the trans union report that is just a side benefit.

[Lel]

Ditto to what RobertEG said.  Opening a new account is not a guarantee of a score increase, and could very well lead to a drop in score.  Furthermore, underwriters don't like to see new credit opened just before applying for a mortgage.

Loan officers are often the source of poor advice when it comes to credit scores.