Help Increasing Mortgage Score

[John4598]

Hi everyone,

Im currently trying to qualify for a mortgage and need to get my mortgage scores up to 620+ as quickly as possible. My FICO 8 score is 592, but I know mortgage lenders use FICO 5, 4, and 2, which are lower.

Mortgage Scores as of 1/31/2025 (FICO 5, 4 & 2)

 Equifax: 575

 TransUnion: 533

 Experian: 514

My Current Credit Situation

 Open Accounts: 11

Accounts Ever Late: 10 (only one late payment in the last two years)

Collections: 1 (Paid on 2/2/2025)

Charge-Offs: 6 

Current Credit Utilization: 92% 

 Oldest Account: 10 years, 4 months

 Average Age of Accounts: 4 years, 9 months

Hard Inquiries: Several from July/August 2024 (mostly auto loans)

Collection Account (Just Found & Paid on 2/2/2025)

Creditor Amount Date Paid

Progressive (Insurance Collection) $264 2/2/2025

I didnt know about this collection until recently and paid it immediately.

Charge-Off Details 

Creditor Charged-Off Date Amount

Capital One Mar 2021 $674

Discover Bank Oct 2021 $482 (paid today)

First Premier Bank Jan 2023 $478 (paid today)

JPMCB Card Feb 2021 $5,057

JPMCB Card Mar 2021 $10,768

SYNCB/PPC Jan 2021 $1,265 (settled today for $800)

Chase I do not plan to pay unless needed it's past statute of limitiations. 

Paid off a surprise Progressive collection on 2/2/2025

… Lowered balances on two credit cards to $0, one has an $8 balance. I have 3 with limits of $500,$500,$600. Last month they reported $252,$398,$0. I always pay them in full. 

My Questions:

1. Is it realistic for me to get a mortgage pre-approval in the next month or two?

 We are moving soon, and I was not prepared like I should have been.

I would be a first-time homebuyer and want to qualify using my income only (my wife will start looking for a job closer to our move).

My wife owns our current home, so we arent worried about needing to sell before purchasing.

 We will have 20% down, so Im hoping that helps.

2. How much impact will paying off charge-offs have? Will my mortgage scores increase soon, or will they stay low since they still show as  Charge-Off 

3. Should I dispute these paid charge-offs to try to remove them?

4. Will the paid Progressive collection still hurt my mortgage scores?

5. **I have one late payment from July 2023 (Toyota auto loan). Would a Goodwill Letter help? Has anyone had success with Toyota Financial removing late payments?

6. Would letting a small balance report on one of my credit cards help? Right now, I have two at $0 and one with $8.

7. Is there anything else I can do to increase my mortgage score quickly?

I really appreciate any advice! I need to hit 580+ ASAP to qualify for a mortgage.

my revolving credit are

student loans

car 47k (we are going to pay off when we sell house has high interest rate)

car 22k (.9% interest rate)

We had some financial issues in 2021-2022 and enrolled in a debt settlement program and that was the worst thing we did. They didn't settle anything and told us to stop paying everything. We are out of that program but now it's made for a tough time buying a house.

Thanks in advance!

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

What is the reasoning for your goal of a 620 score (or 580, which you listed later in your post)?

FHA mortgages will go to 90% financing with a 500 credit score, which you are already at, so with 20% down your current credit scores could potentially qualify.  If you are financing no more than the FHA loan limit in your county (you can look it up here) then it's entirely possible to qualify even if you can't hit your 580 or 620 credit score goal.  We just got an automated underwriting approval for someone putting 10% down with 540 credit scores and late payments similar to yours, their debt-to-income ratio was low (in the 30's) so I'm sure that played a big part in getting it.

As far as questions 2-7 are concerned, @Thomas_Thumb might have some feedback for you, as they are very knowledgeable about what impacts mortgage credit scores, or you'll get more feedback by asking in Understanding FICO® Scoring or Rebuilding Your Credit.