If you are a member, you can get a one on one credit counseling appointment with a specialist for free. They will go over your score and what banks will look for in terms of obtaining a home loan, VA, FHA and conventional. They will tell you how to use credit cards (same advise the mods here give) but personalized to your account. Date of statement, due date etc.
I actually found out I was hit with a negative because I have been paying my balance to zero monthly and carried a $301 balance past statement date in October. Even though it was paid to 0$ it's reporting negative on my account for a year.
Anyway I advise anyone applying for a mortgage to call USAA and ask for this service. If you are a member and are declined for a car loan or credit card, ask for one of these sessions.
USAA pulled my EQ FICO score for their Auto Loan (I was declined) and it was the exact same score as reported here 659. The representative went through my credit history with me, and mapped out my future in terms of financial goals. Told me how much to put into a CD as "reserves", how long to keep balances above a certain mark in my account for 3-4 months, how much to have in savings for a mortgage, and then the entire underwriting process and what they will ding me for versus what will be helpful. The guy I talked to even told me what type of disability and life insurance to have in place before I apply for a mortgage because that will help the approval process.
Also the advise was basically spot on to some of the advise from members here. I need to give my history time to show its true nature, and let the bad student loan defaults fall off and age. He said because I consolidated in October, it would be 6 months to a year for them to stop affecting me when it comes to the approval process. The guy was really good.
Starting Score: 656
Great info. I will give them a call. Do you have their secured cards? I got one in feb and its still not reporting yet. I also could offend the statement date. Do you know when they go out? Thanks again for info
MissKay I started all of this with a secured card in August. I was declined a Wells Fargo card at the same time I applied for my USAA American Express. After 6 months of payments I was given 2 Capital one cards (I know I failed to opt out, but its done now) Make sure you ask your counselor for your statement date. When I talked to him he told me there are 3 dates I can not miss in order to build credit. Due date, Reporting Date and Statement date.
Also he said, and you will love this..... For your Mortgage application, make sure you have 3 months of reserves in your bank account. Guess what qualifies for reserves.... That's right our CD that we secured our credit card with. And now you can add fubnds from your bank account to the CD to it to increase limit. If you need another installment loan, you can get a CD deposit personal loan, and deposit those funds in the CD, however if Mortgage app is in the near future keep your debt to income ratio very low.