What can I realistically expect with my scores?

[Anonymous]

A couple weeks ago I talked to a lender who pulled our scores and found they were too low for us to qualify for anything (uh oh!). 

I ran to myFICO and created an account, pulled my 3B report. FICO 8's were 631(EQ), 621(TU), 647(EX). FICO 5/4/2's were 567(EQ), 575(TU), 540(EX). Not good, I know.

Revolving utilization was 83%. Equifax and TransUnion accounts all showed as paid/paying as agreed, but Experian lists 4 as past due, one of which has been closed since 2017 (old paid-off auto loan). I did have some late payments in Jul/Aug of last year on my new auto loan (didn't realize my auto pay stopped working for a couple months) and in Nov 2020 on my mortgage (new baby, life was chaos, forgot to pay). I also had two unpaid collections for $50 medical lab vists that I didn't know insurance didn't pay and somehow missed any communication. Equifax didn't list one collection, but the others had both. 

So first thing I did was pay the collections. I haven't done any official asking for them to be taken off my records because I wasn't aware that was a thing. Next thing I did was pay off revolving credit. I got my utilization down to 8%. Finally I made absolutely sure all my accounts are paid in full and I have auto pay on everywhere so I don't miss any payments. 

I waited until my billing cycles ended and saw my FICO 8 scores jumped to 688(EX), and 668 (TU). EQ is still sitting at 631. 

Should I buy an early pull of my 3B report to see what all has changed? Next 3B on my subscription doesn't happen until the end of February. I asked my lender if he thought we should pull it again when I saw two of my FICO 8's jump and he said to give it until the end of the week. End of the week is approaching and I'm wondering if it's even worth another hit to my credit for him to pull it now when I don't know what's going on with my FICO 5/4/2s and overall credit report. I'm not sure exactly what my lender uses, but he said somethinig about taking an average of three scores and I was just below their 620 conventional loan minimum. 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

PS - I guess I should also point out for completeness, I have a 13 year (exceptional) credit length, last opened credit acount was over 4 years ago (very good), and 4 revolving credit accounts (also listed as very good). 

[4sallypat]

You are on the right path (paying off collections, dropping utilization) to fix your credit which may take longer than when you want to move on finding a house.

Your mortgage broker/lender can do additional pulls without consequence up to 6 weeks for EQ and TU. EX has a 2 week window.

I know, because when we started home shopping, our mortgage brooker pulled our credit multiple times throughout the year and when our offer was accepted, he pulled 2 times in a month due to rapid rescores.

You should work on your score and avoid having to pay for your credit reports - let your mortgage broker do it.

Even better, ask your lender if they can do SP every few weeks to monitor your progress.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice! Right after I posted, my Equifax FICO 8 updated to 676.

I'm within time for a repull on Equifax and TransUnion, but might be over 2 weeks for Experian. 

I think I'll get my lender to repull tomorrow and see what he says, but if I still don't qualify or don't like what I get from it, we'll have to wait it out.  

What's an SP? (Edit - Oh, soft pull. Ok, cool. I didn't know they'd do that for you.)