Credit utilization and scores

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2017

Hopefully someone can help me with this. So My wife and I were approved for a mortgage and we are in the final stages of closing. my current mid score is around 600. we can get a better interest rate if my score is at a 620 by the end of May. Some things have been going on where my transunion and equifax scores coninute to bounce around abut 10 to 15 pts monthly for no reason seem like. I have been keeping my utilization down to about 2 percent and only using one card, and when I do use all three I still keep the utlization to only around 7 percent or so. my wife kees her utiliaztion at around 15 to 18 percent and her scores continune to go up about 15 to 20 pts per month. She is around a 670 now. On her profile it says she has shown recent use of credit cards as a positive factor. So do I actually need to use all 3 of my cards more and increase my utilzation some to see some increase in points?

CreditScoreChallenged · ‎03-09-2017

Is it 1 card you are keeping at 7% or is this your total utilization? Do you have anything negative reporting? Also do you have a good mix of credit ( such as bank cards, installment loan)?

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DollyLama · ‎03-09-2017

There are a few "mortgage" FICO scores, it is not the Score 8. Which one of the scoring models are you using or the lender on your mortgage score?

Have you been able to rid the 2 small collections back in November, PFD, and what about the repo settlement?

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2017

If you're looking for stable, optimal scores then just stick to this...

Get rid of baddies.
Use only 1 card and let it report a balance on your statement every month.
Do not let the other cards report a balance on their statements.
Have an some kind of installment loan for credit mix.

Easy as that.

SouthJamaica · ‎03-09-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
Hopefully someone can help me with this. So My wife and I were approved for a mortgage and we are in the final stages of closing. my current mid score is around 600. we can get a better interest rate if my score is at a 620 by the end of May. Some things have been going on where my transunion and equifax scores coninute to bounce around abut 10 to 15 pts monthly for no reason seem like. I have been keeping my utilization down to about 2 percent and only using one card, and when I do use all three I still keep the utlization to only around 7 percent or so. my wife kees her utiliaztion at around 15 to 18 percent and her scores continune to go up about 15 to 20 pts per month. She is around a 670 now. On her profile it says she has shown recent use of credit cards as a positive factor. So do I actually need to use all 3 of my cards more and increase my utilzation some to see some increase in points?

1. Do not apply for any other credit.

2. It doesn't matter whether you use the cards or not, what matters is that 2 of the 3 cards report a zero balance when the statement cuts, and that the third card reports a very small balance, which you pay in full.

3. Do what you can to get rid of the negatives.