@Anonymous wrote:
Thats why we are trying to do the loan, we are trying to consolidate debt. When I talked to Equifax they claimed that 3 cards where the limit was lowered was showing as over the limit because of this, however looking at the report it doesnt seem like that. Thats why I'm wondering if its something with the Fico scoring.
Make sure you are looking at the correct version of FICO for your loan -- did your lender tell you if they use FICO 8 or another score?
Consolidation loans are very difficult to get even with better credit, but if you have a lender who said they'd lend you at 670, your best bet is to find a way to pay down all credit cards so they REPORT utilization under 88%. Beans and rice diet for a month might get you there, depending on how much it would take to get there. Note that even if you pay a card down to 88%, interest will post at statement cut and may cause you to report over 88%. Any card reporting 89% is considered maxed out by FICO and any card reporting over 100% is considered overlimit, so getting every card including AUs below 88% will help a lot. I've seen 30-40 point jumps when folks get their maxed out and overlimit cards under 88%.
If your lender doesn't use FICO 8, let us know what score flavor they use.
