Advice: Increase myFICO score 5 for refi 661 to 720?

[Anonymous]

I am hoping to refi my house and my middle lender score is 661, too low.

Here is what I have done so far (since I got the 661):

- One medical collection for $70 ruled an error and have company letter to back it up (I am faxing to the 3 bureaus and have company also requesting it)

- One late 30-day notice from 2017 the credit card issuer agreed to 'goodwill except' off my record

This will leave only one late 30-day notice also from 2017 that is not going to go away sadly.

Across all revolving debt I have 28% utilization and all cards under 30% (about 30K here)

I do have one installment loan for debt consolidation (largish, 28K)

I opened a handful of new cards in the last year so my 'average' age of all revolving debt is like 100 months.

I have 30K of cash left to spend to improve my record - what will make the biggest difference?

A: Pay all of my revolving debt to near-zero, leave my installment loan as-is

B: Pay down my installment loan, keep my revolving debt under 30%

C: Cancel some of my newer cards taking my "average age" to about 150 months, pay down revolving to keep under 30% utilization

What's your vote to increase my score?

THANKS!

P.S. It will cost me to pull another full credit report - how long should I wait before I do this? Will I see my dashboard scores go up which should then signal me to pull the report before asking my lender to try again? The myFICO score 5 seemed exactly similar to what my lender quoted.

[Jnbmom]

I would pay down your debts to under 9% utilization, that should get you some points.

Not sure why you want to just keep it just under 30%?

[Mr_Mojo_Risin]

If you can get under 9% you should see some nice gains. For me closer I am around 1-3% I see little more gain.

If you cancel some cards you will not get back any age back on your file.

[SouthJamaica]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I am hoping to refi my house and my middle lender score is 661, too low.

Here is what I have done so far (since I got the 661):

- One medical collection for $70 ruled an error and have company letter to back it up (I am faxing to the 3 bureaus and have company also requesting it)

- One late 30-day notice from 2017 the credit card issuer agreed to 'goodwill except' off my record

This will leave only one late 30-day notice also from 2017 that is not going to go away sadly.

Across all revolving debt I have 28% utilization and all cards under 30% (about 30K here)

I do have one installment loan for debt consolidation (largish, 28K)

I opened a handful of new cards in the last year so my 'average' age of all revolving debt is like 100 months.

I have 30K of cash left to spend to improve my record - what will make the biggest difference?

A: Pay all of my revolving debt to near-zero, leave my installment loan as-is

B: Pay down my installment loan, keep my revolving debt under 30%

C: Cancel some of my newer cards taking my "average age" to about 150 months, pay down revolving to keep under 30% utilization

What's your vote to increase my score?

THANKS!

P.S. It will cost me to pull another full credit report - how long should I wait before I do this? Will I see my dashboard scores go up which should then signal me to pull the report before asking my lender to try again? The myFICO score 5 seemed exactly similar to what my lender quoted.

---

Clearly A is the way to go -- pay your revolving debt down to near zero. That is the best thing you could do, by far.

The mortgage scores love to see a lot of zero balances among your revolving accounts.

The mortgage scores don't care that much about your installment loans, and closing accounts doesn't do anything to your age factors because it doesn't remove them from the credit reports.

Wait until all your revolving accounts have been paid down (all but one of them to zero) and reported. Then pull your report.

And be sure not to apply for anything.

[Anonymous]

Pay down revolving debt and let age do its thing.  Once your youngest account reaches 12 months of age your scores should increase.  Definitely don't apply for anything.

[M_Smart007]

Hi @Anonymous and Welcome to the forum!

I am not much of an expert, and you have certainly received great advice.

Would like to throw this in, as it might help you along with all the great advice given.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/General-Scoring-Primer-and-Version-8-Master-Thread-pub-5-17-20/m-p/6023350#M169681

Good luck on your refi

[Anonymous]

THANKS to everyone.  I will pay down my revolving debt and see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

OP - to be clear, closong accounts will not increase your scores. That is a vantage score thing (think credit karma) and mortgages do not use those scores. Credit age factors in open and closed accounts age.

Also, it does not cost you any hard pulls to your credit to check your own mortgage scores using a MyFico 3B pull. EX app also updates mortgage scores daily (EX mortgage scores), if that is something you want to sign up for.