Curious about mortgages

[zeroempathy]

Long ago I got a car loan which ended up paid in full, but with a charged off balance. By a miracle another loan was required that paid in full and on time.  I was also an authorized user on several credit cards that were paid on time.  I realized my charge may be due to fall off in a year so I got my FAKO and it reported 667.  I had a mortgage guy check my credit to see where I stood and found out why FAKOs suck.  He told me I had no score or credit history.  

I tried to purchase my FICO score here and it also reported I had no scores, but it looks as though that may be because I didn't have any current credit use.  I used the tips I found here and got approved for a Capital One ($500 limit) and paid my new card before the statement posted with a small balance, and as of yesterday I can finally pull a score from Equifax and its 691.  Transunion still isn't reporting score.  The mortgage guy is going to run my credit again in a few weeks in the hops the others pull a score also.  I have three hard inquiries from the mortgage check, and from trying to get approved for Credit Cards of which I only got one.

WIth a 691 I'm tempted to go for more Credit Cards seeing as I was probably declined for having no score, but I'm afraid to touch anything now that I have a score that doesn't seem terrible.  

I've been horrible at paying my bills, but nothing that been reported to my report.  I've lived in the same apartment for years, and I've been employed at the same job for over a decade.  I know its a horrible idea to cash in an IRA, but I've got quite a chunk of cash that I'd prefer to use for a house.  I think I can even use $10k of it penalty free for a first time home purchase. 

Any tips or advice?  You guys already got me from no score to a 691 in a matter of weeks.  

[JM-AM]

Does the credit report have some history on it?

Besides your new CC when was your last open active account?

[zeroempathy]

The charge says it was opened in 2004.  The last activity og the good car loan was 2006.  One Authorized user CC show closed as of 2005.  The other doesn't show closed but shows last activity as of 2008.  "Credit at a Glance" says my history is 11 years.

[JM-AM]

Well the good is you do have some history.

Let your TU update, check Credit Karma which is free to see if Cap One is reporting. Pay no attention to scores just use as a monitoring service for TU.

Once it updates you should get a score from TU also.

If no score updates with TU or Experian your LO or Broker can just use the one score available. The only drawback is your Cap One is new and the Lender may want to see 12 months history since all your other accounts are technically closed.