Credit Cards and Mortgage loan

[Anonymous]

Hello,

My fiancee and I are looking at buying a house in the next month or two.  I am currently trying to get everything I have in order to try and get the best rate.  I am trying to figure out what I should do with my credit cards to get the most out of my score.  We are looking at getting a conventional loan of between 500K-550K with 10% down.  Her mid score is 790 so I am trying to get mine into the 700's so I dont pull her score down.

My credit FICO 8 score:

EX: 681

TU: 696

EQ: 678

PenFed CC: $5,000/$1,400  28% UTL  30 day missed payment in January

Citi CC: $7,000/$2,100  30% UTL

NFCU: $18,400/ $5,500  30% UTL

Capital One: $3,500/$2,600  74% UTL

Chase: $1000/$0   30 day missed payment in January

Citi CC: $1400/$0

Is it better to have more cards AZERO or try and get them all under a certain percentage?  I am working to get both 30 days off and have been in contact with both companies.

[chiefone4u]

AZEO (all zero except one) will give you your best score.

Next best will be fewest possible accounts reporting a balance, while ALL other cards are under 28.8% (the lower the better) with total utilization under 8.9%.

Getting your lates removed will help too.

You shared your Fico8 scores, banks are going to use mortgage scores (5, 4, 2)

Typically they will use highest income (or combined income) and the lowest middle score. As it stands now, based on provided information your middle score will determine the interest rate of the loan.

[krielly]

The Captial One card at 74% utilization is the first one I would tackle. Pay it off and you will likely see a considerable jump. 

[CreditInspired]

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@chiefone4u wrote:
AZEO (all zero except one) will give you your best score.

Next best will be fewest possible accounts reporting a balance, while ALL other cards are under 28.8% (the lower the better) with total utilization under 8.9%.

Getting your lates removed will help too.

You shared your Fico8 scores, banks are going to use mortgage scores (5, 4, 2)

Typically they will use highest income (or combined income) and the lowest middle score. As it stands now, based on provided information your middle score will determine the interest rate of the loan.

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^^^ this