I've been working to bring my mortgage scores up in order to buy a house. I find myself in a race against rising interest rates. My wife has excellent credit and unfortunately, my lowest middle score will be the driving factor. As I've started to realize that different sectors use different scores, I've invested in the 3B score only to learn that my mortgage scores/old versions lag my FICO 8s significantly. I've spent way too much time trying to figure out what controllable moves I can make that will specifically improve my mortgage scores. As you can imagine, the verdict is ultimately "well, it depends."
As of 3.5.18, my FICO 8s were 664EQ/675TU/668EX. FICO 9s are all 700+. At this same point in time, my mortage scores (5, 4, & 2) were 655/665/643. This leaves me with a middle mortgage of 655 and I really need to be at least a 680. The biggest wrench I've been facing for several years is a reported utility collection from Entergy of $1,540. I genuinely do not owe it (who in the world has a $1,500 utility bill?). It is simply impossible to get it to budge. You can't get past the gatekeepers to speak with someone who can actually do something. You just get the regular customer service personnel. It's been a nightmare as they are the original creditor. I've searched high and low and tried everything, won't even consider a PFD on something I genuinely do not owe. It shows a date of last activity as June 2012. It makes my blood boil to even mention it it's really looking like my only option is to ride it out to the 7 year mark. Every time I dispute it, they just "verify" it and allegedly "update report." This causes them to report it again that month as charged-off. The don't report for a specific month unless I dispute it. The fact that they are able to do this as an original creditor is a policy rant from which I'll spare you. Trust me, I've tried everything.
Now to my main point. First of all, I suspect that each time I dispute it and the "verify" it, it somehow enters the equation given that it is reported more recently. It's very, very evil. Now on to the controllable part. It is my understanding that AU cards are more significant in the old scoring models and count just like a regular card. My wife has a 14 year old Bank of America Americard with $0 balance every month and $5,300 limit and perfect payment history. She added me as AU and it should report in the next day or 2. In the meantime, I decided to go for the AZEO somewhere in the <9% range and let the 14 year old account history work for me once the AU reports. Given the age of the collection, the strategy should work for me, right? One thing to note is that the balance of the 1 card in the AZEO is also an AU card and is only a couple of months old due to 0% interest. Well, paying things down and arranging the AZEO has reported and my 8's all increased while my old version all DROPPED by roughly 15 points. The Bank of America AU hasn't reported yet but should tomorrow night or so.
The main things that have worked against me is that I started taking graduate classes at night. I've taken out loans on them for the past few semesters. They've always simply increased the balance of my existed student loan originating in 2008. All of a sudden, my most recent 2 semesters were broken off and reported as separate loans of $5,000 and $8,000 opened on 08/2017 and 01/2018 respectively. This essentially hit me with 2 new installment loans that are only 5 months and 1 month old respectively. That not only increased my overal installment balance (and % paid vs. unpaid), these new credit/short history accounts are what I think killed me. The only other moving part is that Entergy also reported "c/o" for February due to my dispute. I've disputed the open date on the 2 new student loan accounts. We will see what happens, although I'm not optimistic. The only other negative items I have are 2 back-to-back 30-day lates on my car payment that just passed the 2 year mark (Jan 2016 and Dec. 2015). I was traveling and had to just mail a check. BB&T "never recieved it" so I made up the payments as soon as I found out, resulting it the 2 most recent payments being missed. They also will not budge. I've done everything, including showing up in person. The reason I suspect that each dispute with Entergy drops my score is because EQ and EX were disputed in Feb and "verfied" in February. Both scores decreased. Transunion hasn't been disputed because it just says, "this item is already submitted (from 8 months ago) and your results should come soon." I'm at a road block and can't dispute it. Although the won't resolve it.
My purpose of writing is:
1.) hopefully it is a helpful data point
2.) It could become a more meaningful data point if some of the more valued contributors (T_Thumb, ABCD, etc.) provide their perspective
3.) Perhaps any perspective provided via bullet point #2 will give me a better idea of what moves I might be able to make.
Full details below. Any guidance is appreciated:
3/5/18
FICO 8s: 661EQ/675TU/668EX
Factors:
+ You've limited the use of your available revolving credit.
+ You have many accounts that are in good standing.
- You have a serious delinquency (60 days past due or greater) or derogatory indicator on your credit report.
- You have a short credit history.
- The remaining balance on your mortgage or non-mortgage installment loans is too high.
- You have past due amounts on your accounts.
3/5/18
FICO 2,4 & 5 (Mortgage): 655/665/643
Factors:
+ (none)
- You have a serious delinquency (60 days past due or greater) or derogatory indicator on your credit report.
- You recently missed a payment or had a derogatory indicator reported on your credit report.
- You have a short credit history.
- You have one or more accounts showing missed payments or derogatory indicators.
3/18/18
FICO 8s: 664EQ (-3 points) / 687TU(+12 points) / 665EX (- 3 points)
Factors: Same as above
3/18/18
FICO 2,4 & 5 (Mortgage): 641(-14 points)/Unknown/Unknown (only refreshed 1 bureau report for now)
Credit Cards (Major) - all perfect payment history
Capital One Quiksilver: $0 balance/ $3,800 limit, Opened 08/2017 (7 months)
Capital One Platinum: $0 balance/$900 limit, Opened 03/2016 (23 months)
(auth. user) Chase: $5,858/$9,800 limit, Opened 11/2017 (3 months) - PAID DOWN TO $2,700 for AZEO STRATEGY
(auth. user) Citi Simplicity: $16/$10,500, opened 09/2016 (18 months) - PAID DOWN TO $0 for AZEO STRATEGY
US Bank (Secured) $0 bal/ $500 limit, perfect history, opened 04/2015 (34 months)
Retail Cards - perfect payment history
Nebraska Furniture Mart/Berkshire Hathaway - $0/$750 limit, opened 05/2016 (20 months)
Installment Loans
Santander Auto - Opened 04/2013 and closed (paid-off) 04/2014 - $476/month
BB&T - Opened 04/2014, High Bal. $19,343, Current Bal. $9,420 (46 months, 30-day late 12/15 & 01/16) - NOW REPORTED PAID TO $8,436
FedLoan Servicing (Consolidated Student Loan): Opened 02/2008; High Bal. $56,808/Balance $77,705 (interest + new semesters) - (10 yrs.)
FedLoan Servicing (Consolidated Student Loan): Opened 08/2017; High Bal. $6,514/Balance $6,514 - (5 months)
FedLoan Servicing (Consolidated Student Loan): Opened 01/2018; High Bal. $8,175/Balance $8,175 - (1 month) - DIDN'T EXIST ON 3/5/18
Other
Entergy (Utilities), Opened 05/2009, Closed 07/2012, Balance $1,540, Charge-Off, Last Activity 06/2012
