Rapid Rescore- am I wasting my time?

[jcdavis4]

My wife and I are in the process of getting a mortgage.  Her credit is good but I need another 24 points to qualify for a USDA loan.  I have two 30 day lates from last May that are hurting my credit score.  Our lender suggested doing a rapid rescore after I paid down my credit cards.  In the rapid rescore request, the lender checked the "remove lates" box to see if that would have the 30 day lates removed.  I have already gone through the goodwill letter process with both Discover and Capital One, have spoke with people in the Executive Office for each and it has been a "no go" for both companies.  "Rapid Rescore" hasn't been rapid at all (we're going on over 2 weeks) and I am assuming it is because they are disputing the lates.  Obviously, the lates are my issue and not a mistake on either companies part.  I am wondering if I should just go ahead and have the mortgage company repull my credit or wait for the Rapid Rescore results to come back in.  I am getting a bit impatient and would like some sort of answer.  My wife added me as an authorized user to her Capital One card which has a spick and span record, zero balance and $3,000 limit.  I am hoping that will report sooner rather than later and also improve my score.  24 points doesn't seem too out of reach.

[foofighter74]

What is the difference in your credit card utilization after paying down your cards and after being added to your wife's Capital One card?

My wife had no lates within the last 3 years, but she had a mid-score of 639 in January. We got her utilization down from about 85% to about 45% and her mid-credit score (experian) is up well over 30 points. 

Her equifax score jumped over 40 points.

[jcdavis4]

Not a tremendous difference, I didn't owe much to begin with.  I just really did damage with the late payments.  I haven't included my wife's card in my utilization.  I will have to add that to figure it out.

[jcdavis4]

I am honestly just doubting that checking the "remove lates" box will actually do any good.  I am thinking that that is more for errors on the reporting agency's part, etc.  We're waiting around to see what happens with the dispute process, but I am starting to think it's a waste of time.  

[tooleman694]

I think you should pull your FICO score here and see if the rapid rescore has fixed the balances on your credit cards. You may have the points need now.

[jcdavis4]

I was at 46% utliization and I am now down to 30% utilization.  I'm not sure what has and has not reported yet, though.  Will Score Watch not catch what is updated?  If I "purchase today's score" should it be different from what I see on my score watch alerts?  I don't want to spend the money if it will be the same.

[Mike_B03]

I dont think Score Watch sends an alart if your utilization drops, only when you increase a balance by a certain amount. It also doesnt send alerts when your score changes unless you set it to alert you at a certain point, but even then it doesnt monitor it every day, I think it checks once a week or something.

[jcdavis4]

Great, thanks for the feedback.  Now, I'm wondering if I should just pull myfico score or request my lender to just repull my credit himself.

[tooleman694]

The score watch thing has a delay, that is for sure.

If it were me, id spend the couple bucks and see if it has reported. Credit Card balances on a rapid rescore should move quick.

But I have a feeling you might need to pay down the cards more to see the boost you want.

Also I dont think those 30 day lates are hurting you as much as you think they are. I had a couple 30 day lates removed that were 6 months old, my score did not move.