Advice on increasing score to 740

[Anonymous]

I need to increase my score to 740 asap to qualify for a mortgage! Any advice/help is appreciated:

FICO: 645/697/674 (they take the middle score)

Credit Cards:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve: $4,300/$28,500 (opened in 2017)
• Bank of America: $0/$1200 (closed in 2017 due to inactivity, this was my longest line of credit of 11 yrs)

Student Loans:

• Balance: $27,784/$22,500 (opened in 2010, deferred until 2019)

Deliquencies:

• Citi Credit Card: $0/$5000 (closed in 2014, 90 days late in 2014)

Would the solution be to just to pay down/off the credit card debt or do I need more open lines of credit? 

[Remedios]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I need to increase my score to 740 asap to qualify for a mortgage! Any advice/help is appreciated:

FICO: 645/697/674 (they take the middle score)

Credit Cards:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve: $4,300/$28,500 (opened in 2017)
• Bank of America: $0/$1200 (closed in 2017 due to inactivity, this was my longest line of credit of 11 yrs)

Student Loans:

• Balance: $27,784/$22,500 (opened in 2010, deferred until 2019)

Deliquencies:

• Citi Credit Card: $0/$5000 (closed in 2014, 90 days late in 2014)

Would the solution be to just to pay down/off the credit card debt or do I need more open lines of credit? 

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Hi and welcome to the forums @Anonymous 

Your scores are a bit on the low end for a single derog, even as severe one as 90 day late. You probably have 60 points lost there.

You could try a GW approach and see if they remove the late

Other than that, with only one card, you could possibly benefit from additional revolving credit accounts but do not apply if the mortgage process will be starting in a year or less. You do not want any apps in a year preceding mortgage app. 

Here is some info on GW. https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/GW-letter-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-GW-Success-Stories/td-p/1573680

[calyx]

Do not open any new lines of credit - mortgage apps don't like new credit (less than a year old).
If you are going to go for a mortgage in another year, then yes, additional revolving tradelines could help.

Pay down your Chase (less than 8.9%, even lower), but leave a small amount on your card - you want something to report or you get dinged for your cards having no balance.

Start writing Citi to get a good will deletion for the late in 2014.  Use the saturation technique if necessary.

I don't think it'll get you to 740, but it should help some.

[Anonymous]

Thank you @Remedios!

2 years ago, I tried the GW method (called, emailed, faxed letters), and was unsuccessful. It might be worth trying again though!

I also paid off my car loan, so I'm wondering if closing that installment loan would have had a negative affect on my credit (trying to lower my DTI for the mortgage). 

[Anonymous]

@calyx Thank you! 

I will definitely pay down my Chase card to below 8.9%. Do you think it's also worth paying down my student loans as well (currently above 100% util due to the interest accrued during the deferment period). My repayment period started January of this year. 

[simplegirl]

Yes paying on your student loans could help some.

[coreysw12]

How soon is "asap", specifically? Are you looking to get a mortgage, like, next month?

Also, double-check that your FICO scores you are using are the Fico 5, 4, and 2 variety. If you're using FICO 8 (or something else), then that's probably not the same scores the mortgage lender will use. They almost always use Equifax FICO 5, TU FICO 4, and Exp FICO 2. If you don't have those scores, you can buy them from this website. There's nothing worse than *thinking* you've got a certain median score, only to find out the score the lender is pulling is different (and lower).

Anyways, if you're looking to boost your score by 60 points in less than a month or two, there's really only one way to do it - pay down your credit card to as close to $0 as you can get, and get that one old creditor to remove the derogatory. Without doing those 2 things, you have no chance of getting a 740+ score in the next 2 months.

However, if you've got a little over a year to boost your scores, then that is much MUCH easier to accomplish. Open 2 more credit cards, practice AZEO with them, and open a small installment loan (like SelfLender). 12 months later, your scores should be in the mid-700's I would think, even without getting the old derogatory removed.