Good Morning dear myFICO wise ones,
I don't have much time until this afternoon so this might be a little quick and I can answer more questions later. We are applying for a mortgage in April - hopefully through Coldwell Banker and I'll get to that later. Our lease is up at our house and we literally have to find a home asap.
We have been working on my husband's scores for about a year. We've actually got his report quite cleaned up - there were things reporting that were just wrong and we had no idea. All stuff that wasn't his or were reporting incorrectly are GONE. Stuff that is left are 4 collections from 4 1/2 to 5 years ago after a nasty divorce and his income was spit in half (you all know how that story goes). They are unpaid at the moment but we have no problem paying them - we were just told not to touch them by our VA loan person that we were working with for a year during the clean-up.
So, here's a quickie verson timeline of what has happened in a year:
late 2010 - early 2011 - scores were low 500s. called VA United home loans. They sent us to their in house credit repair dept. Told us we needed a 620. This is when we found the errors. Disputed and removed false stuff. Told to open new credit and establish it for a year. We did that. Opened 4 new credit cards. Perfect payment history since.
early 2012 - scores leveled out at about mid 500s. Still not where we want to be. Hoped that once old credit established for a bit they would raise scores.
late 2012 - scores still at mid 500's. Getting frustrated. Perfect payment and account history now since really about 2010. still waiting.
about a month ago - was told by VA united now that their min score requirement for VA loans is 640. Gave up hope of VA loan. Was told that if we are still stuck at mid 500's to pay down our credit card utilization. His scores jumped to about 580 mid score.
Last week - called FGMC and was told they could do a FHA with a 580 midscore. A little weary on this.
This week - called Coldwell banker (because we were loooking at coldwell banker homes and was recommended to one of their mortgage persons) and was told if we can get to 600 she can get us a FHA mortgage.
OKAY, SO THAT'S WHERE I AM RIGHT NOW! I WOULD LIKE TO GET TO 605 SO WE HAVE A TINY BIT OF BREATHING ROOM!
Was at 580 two weeks ago with the following utilization: 17% overall (individually though one card was 26% and one card was 85%)
These cards are now paid to zero (left 5% utilization on another card) and waiting for them to report around April 4th.
An old inquiry will fall off on March 25th.
Wrote GW letters to auto finance company and student loan yesterday to remove some 30-60 day lates back from 2008-2009. A long shot, I know! Buy hoping it will help!
Called all 3 credit bureas and had disputes removed from everything (wel, still waiting on transunion).
One more thing. We had an installment loan for about a year now with perfect payment history. It was for a quad. We sold it last week and will be writing a check today to pay it off entirely. I am not sure if this will have an effect.
DO YOU THINK THAT ONCE ALL OR ANY OF THESE HIT THAT WE WILL END UP AT 600?????? I'M PRAYING!!!
IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN RECOMMEND, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!
Some more info: Eligible for VA loan but looking like we are going FHA due to stricter VA loan score requirements.
Husband's income: 200k a year W-2 income. 4 years same employer. 6 years same industry.
My income: Stay at home with the kids right now - my scores are mid 640 but I am not going on the loan because I have a lot of debt (student loans, credit cards, etc) and it would hurt our DTI?
Price range of homes looking at: 300k
We are in Pennsylvania.
Anything else you need, please just ask!
I AM DESPERATE FOR ANY OTHER IDEAS!!!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In my opinion its always better to have fewer tradelines than one with nagatives on it.
FICO 8: 
Goal: Gardening!
Goal: Gardening!