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I'd still recommend paying down your balances a bit before you ask for increases. Otherwise, you're likely to get either denied or small ones.
Step 1 should be to pay all cards to below 68.9% of their credit limit
Step 2 - pay all cards to below 48.9%
Step 3 - pay all cards to below 28.9%
Step 4 - pay all cards to below 8.9%
Step 5 - pay all cards to zero except one (AZEO)
That said, if you don't have any negatives on your report (charge-offs, collections or late payments) I think you stand a pretty good chance of being above 760 after Step 3. That would get you the best rates and take some pressure of paying the remaining balances immediately. Of course, with the APR you are paying, it is still wises to pay them off asap
@Caardvark wrote:A house is typically the biggest expense one will have in their entire life. And, even small movements in interest become expensive over the course of a 30 year term. Therefore, in my opinion, you should absolutely, positively with NO EXCEPTIONS, pay down your cards before trying to get a mortgage.
Below is a quick table on your current balances and utilization. Your scores are getting crushed by some of those balances. There are scoring penalties when aither aggregate or individual card utilization surpass 28.9%. And these penalties increase when you surpass 48.9%, 68.9% and 88.9%. (Anything over 88.9% is considered Maxed and gets an even bigger penalty).
Ideally you want your aggregate utilization to be below 8.9% and no individual card above 28.9%. If you truly do not have any late payments, charge-offs,. or collections, I can easily see your score well above 760 if you do, which will get you the best rates.
Account Balance Limit Util Lowes $0.00 $1,000.00 0.0% CreditOne $0.00 $1,000.00 0.0% CreditOne $175.00 $1,150.00 15.2% Capital One $479.00 $1,500.00 31.9% Target $1,483.00 $2,000.00 74.2% Kohls $2,533.00 $3,000.00 84.4% BoA $2,200.00 $2,300.00 95.7% Chase $4,590.00 $7,000.00 65.6% Fingerhut $1,887.00 $3,900.00 48.4% $13,347.00 $22,850.00 58.4%
Ahh @Caardvark. Kudos to you for breaking it down in an easy to understand and readable format for OP.
@Caardvark wrote:But Wait There's More!!!
- Mortgage scores are particularly sensitive to # of accounts with balances. So, keep this in mind. Also, search these forums and read up on AZEO
- Another way to get your utilization down is to request credit limit increases. Search the forums to see what credit card lenders you have that do not HP for a CLI. You definitely do not want an HP but should be actively seeking any and all SP credity limit increases you can
OP, in reference to #1 above, since CreditOne and Cap1 are only $175 & $479, I suggest paying those off first.
Don't even think about mortgage until those are paid down, will pay off in the short term, will pay off tremendously in the long term.
sarcasm?