Update! Need a 20 pt boost FICO

[Anonymous]

Updated post....

i have $10,000 to pay down debts. No luck with good will efforts to remove lates. Where should I put The $10k towards?

new balances are...

1. Line of Credit at credit union: $11,000 bal/$30,000 CL 

2. Citicard: $2,638 bal/$11,000 CL ...wife's card, I'm an AU

3. Amex: $0/$6000 CL 

4. Amex: $1947/$13500 ...wife's card, I'm an AU

5. Chase auto $7,747 balance

I’m thinking of applying the $10,000 like this...

1. Line of Credit at credit union: $2500

2. Citicard: $2,638 

3. Amex: $0

4. Amex: $1800

5. Chase auto $3000

total possible payments: $9938

What would you do? My loan officer is running numbers to see how this may increase his score.

We are in the mortgage lending process and I need a 20 pt boost. I think my best bet is to update my info and pay down my utilization. Any advise? Should I take me off as an AU from my wife's cards? She is not on the mortgage loan application. I have $5000 I can use to pay down debt.

Here's my balances:

1. Line of Credit at credit union: $13,026 bal/$30,000 CL (43% util)

2. Citicard: $3,945 bal/$11,000 CL (36% util)...wife's card, I'm an AU

3. Amex: $2901/$6000 CL (48%)

4. Amex: $1931/$13500 (22%)...wife's card, I'm an AU

5. Chase auto $8122 balance

My fico mortgage score is 673 EX, 686 TU, 693 EQ

My major derog is the short sale that is to fall off this Sept (Experian), Nov (Transunion) with M&T bank. I've submitted a "dispute" to see if they'd do an early exclusion. I'm waiting for results.

I have no late payments on any of the TLs listed. I had a late on a closed account with BOA in Feb 2017 and a late car pymt with Chase Mar 2016. I’ve tried good will letters on all baddies. Other than that, there's no other derogs on my account.

We need to move before sept 1. Wife’s score is 740 but she doesn’t have an income because she’s a homemaker. She will not be on the mortgage. 

[RobertEG]

The payment history category is the most highly-weighted, and usually offers the greatest opportunity for score improvement.

The post addresses util scoring issues, but not payment history scoring/derogs.

What are your reported payment history derogs?  They normally provide the most bang for the buck if you can get removed.

Are your payment history derogs on your own accounts, or are some/all on the AU accounts?

[austingal]

I just ran the math, and somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like removing yourself from your wife's AU cards would actually increase your utilization rather than decrease it. She is the one who has the lower balances relative to the credit lines. She is the one with more available credit line to pad the utilization.

[austingal]

And Robert is correct -- removing any negative items off of your credit report would likely have more of the desired effect on your scores than playing with your utilization at this point.

[Anonymous]

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@RobertEG wrote:

The payment history category is the most highly-weighted, and usually offers the greatest opportunity for score improvement.

The post addresses util scoring issues, but not payment history scoring/derogs.

What are your reported payment history derogs?  They normally provide the most bang for the buck if you can get removed.

Are your payment history derogs on your own accounts, or are some/all on the AU accounts?

---

My major derog is the short sale that is to fall off this Sept (Experian), Nov (Transunion) with M&T bank. I've submitted a "dispute" to see if they'd do an early exclusion. I'm waiting for results.

I have no late payments on any of the TLs listed. I had a late on a closed account with BOA in Feb 2017 ad a late car pymt with Chase Mar 2016. Other than that, there's no other derogs on my account.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I won't remove myself as an AU.

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@austingal wrote:

I just ran the math, and somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like removing yourself from your wife's AU cards would actually increase your utilization rather than decrease it. She is the one who has the lower balances relative to the credit lines. She is the one with more available credit line to pad the utilization.

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[rbentley]

No one can tell you how to get a 20 pt. boost.  Every credit profile is too individual and has too many factors, many of which you haven't disclosed.  Certainly the high utilization on your accounts acrross the board is a major hit.  You would see a substantial improvement by bring that utl under 8.9% on all of them.  I dont know if that is an option for you, but that does appear to be the major hit on your disclosed accounts.  Anything above 30% really does impact your scores.  Bring them all under that, at least.

[Anonymous]

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@rbentley wrote:

No one can tell you how to get a 20 pt. boost.  Every credit profile is too individual and has too many factors, many of which you haven't disclosed.  Certainly the high utilization on your accounts acrross the board is a major hit.  You would see a substantial improvement by bring that utl under 8.9% on all of them.  I dont know if that is an option for you, but that does appear to be the major hit on your disclosed accounts.  Anything above 30% really does impact your scores.  Bring them all under that, at least.

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I mentioned the baddies in a comment above. I have $5000 I can use to pay down accounts. A short sale that falls off this fall.

My major derog is the short sale that is to fall off this Sept (Experian), Nov (Transunion) with M&T bank. I've submitted a "dispute" to see if they'd do an early exclusion. I'm waiting for results.

I have no late payments on any of the TLs listed. I had a late on a closed account with BOA in Feb 2017 ad a late car pymt with Chase Mar 2016. Other than that, there's no other derogs on my account.

We need to move before sept 1. Wife’s score is 740 but she doesn’t have an income because she’s a homemaker. She will not be on the mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Test

[xaximus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

We are in the mortgage lending process and I need a 20 pt boost. I think my best bet is to update my info and pay down my utilization. Any advise? Should I take me off as an AU from my wife's cards? She is not on the mortgage loan application. I have $5000 I can use to pay down debt.

Here's my balances:

1. Line of Credit at credit union: $13,026 bal/$30,000 CL (43% util)

2. Citicard: $3,945 bal/$11,000 CL (36% util)...wife's card, I'm an AU

3. Amex: $2901/$6000 CL (48%)

4. Amex: $931/$13500 (22%)...wife's card, I'm an AU

My major derog is the short sale that is to fall off this Sept (Experian), Nov (Transunion) with M&T bank. I've submitted a "dispute" to see if they'd do an early exclusion. I'm waiting for results.

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I would pay the following - 

1. Line of Credit at credit union: $13,026 bal/$30,000 CL (43% util) -  $1500, this will bring utilization down to 38%

2. Citicard: $3,945 bal/$11,000 CL (36% util)...wife's card, I'm an AU - $1000, this will bring utilization down to 27%

3. Amex: $2901/$6000 CL (48%) - $2500, this will bring the utilization of this account down to 6%

4. Amex: $931/$13500 (22%)...wife's card, I'm an AU - This amount doesn't add to 22%, it's more like 6%.

If you don't want to pay the debt's on the DW cards, then I would suggest paying down the CU CC and Amex.