@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:To optimize your scores going into the mortgage application:
1. no applications or other hard pulls
2. let all cards but one report at zero balance
3. let the other card report at 9% or less
Forget the simulator
(Assuming you have no installment loans outstanding there is one additional game you can play if you want to pick up some points: go to Alliant Credit Union, open $500 or more savings account, then take out $500 share secured loan against the savings account with 48 or 60 month duration & no autopay (no hard pull, negligible interest), then pay that loan down to 9%, or $45. Once the $45 balance reports you'll pick up some points. If on the other hand you do have an outstanding installment loan try to pay it down to 9%.. but not to zero.)
My understanding is the Fico 04 mortgage scores (EQ score 5 and TU score 4) do not look at open mortgage B/L as a scoring factor. So a share secured loan won't help with those mortgage scores. However, it may be of some benefit to EX score 2 (which is a Fico 98 score).
Since we have no effective way of closely monitoring any scores other than FICO 8, I've decided to concentrate on FICO 8 rather than engage in guesswork as to the other models.
Nah we have plenty of data available to suggest FICO 04 doesn't care about installment utilization.
That said, playing with installment utilization did get me north of 720 on my EX Risk Model v2 (EX 98) score, and moving from a 700 to a 720 on one's tri-merge midscore is nothing but goodness. While I'll agree there's some debate as to my old assertion that mortgages are treated identically to any other installment line (which I still think is the case but anyway) anyone who ignores the changes in FICO 8 vs FICO 04 vs FICO 98 in that data is being dishonest, and we've gotten confirmation from others going through mortgage processing.
