@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm the primary on one of the cards, the other 3 are under her name, and only one of them is being used constantly, the other two have been idle for >6 mos. Still not a good idea to get another one? In regards to the mortgage rates, the LO told me that we could lock the 3.25% today and re-run her score before closing, and if the score goes up they will lower the % by .125. Sounds too good to be true, but I like to trust people
The new card won't help score. It's a hard call given the short timeframe. I'd opt for using one of the inactive cards with the largest CLs to "reactivate". Then pay off the charge before statement posts. That should activate the card to ensure its CL counts in aggregate UT while not having it report a balance.
Key point for optimum mortgage scores is "allow one card only to report a non zero statement balance each month". Are you doing this now? It is ok to pre-pay the majority of charges on the card being used constantly - just allow some balance to report and then PIF statement balance before due date. No need to carry a balance month to month. This technique does require making two payments per month - one a few days before statement cuts and another after statement cuts but before due date.
As of now I'm PIF before it reports, I just got into this habbit to eliminate all debt before applying for a mortgage. I guess that wasn't the smartest thing to do.
So I will just let one of the cars report a balance of <9% for a month, see where that takes me. Thank you very much for you guidance!
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:_______________________________________________________
t is generally ill-advised to apply for any credit at all within the few months leading up to a mortgage. Your wife already has 4 credit cards which is enough to provide her with an optimal score with that amount of revolvers. As others have stated, have 3 report a $0 balance and the 4th report a single-digit utilization balance to maximize score.
What is her AAoA? In the unlikely event that it's sitting at X.9 years right now, another cycle passing could bring it up to the next whole number which depending on that number could yield a few more points. Also inquiries will age another month which could give another point or two.
Do you have any open installment loans? I'm not sure how quickly the share secure technique yields results and it goes against what I said above of not applying for credit just before going for a mortgage, but those that have used this technique can chime in. If you already have an open installment loan then forget about it, but if not using this technique could potentially yield you more points when it reports than would be lost from the inquiry/new account. Of course, if the installment loan doesn't report until after you get the mortgage then it was a complete waste anyway. If you search a few share secure loan threads I'm sure people that didn't have an installment loan prior could tell you what they gained when adding an installement loan that reported single-digit utilization.
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No idea what the AAoA is to be honest. Will look into the installment loan option, since she does not have one. Thank you!
At this point in time I would strongly recommend against the installment loan trick. It only has the potential to positively impact Experian mortgage score - no potential benefit for Equifax or TransUnion. Also, the added inquiry could be harmful - particularly given you are only 2 months from wanting to close on a mortgage.
Side note: once you have an open mortgage, the SSL trick (which primarily helps boost Fico 08) becomes impotent.
As mentioned above, allow one of the EXISTING CC accounts to report a small (at least $5) statement balance and then PIF before due date. It is highly probable this will result in a 10 to 20 point score increase over "all accounts reporting zero balances".... Also, DO make sure to use idle cards periodically as creditors will close idle accounts for inactivity. Closure due to inactivity exceeding 12 months is not uncommon particularly with no annual fee bank credit cards - such as Wells Fargo.
Thanks, will do that!
One card is from Nordstrom which was never used. My wife opened it 5 years ago because the "cashier told her to" 
In my experience they rarely close those type of accounts due to innactivity, at least they haven't so far as it still shows up on the report (correct me if I'm wrong). The other two are from Capital One (Quicksilver and Platinum Master Card), the Platinum one has less CL and is not being used. Do you think I should use this one to report balance or go with the higher CL Quicksilver that we actively use.
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks, will do that!
One card is from Nordstrom which was never used. My wife opened it 5 years ago because the "cashier told her to"
As a start I would suggest you allow a small balance to report on the higher CL Quicksilver. However, you do need to use the Platinum card periodically to avoid closure. You can PIF this card before statement cuts as the credeit card issuer obviously knows the card has been used even though balance reported to the CRAs is zero.
Long term (post mortgage) I would suggest rotating which card reports a balance - not required but that would be my approach.
P.S. Closed accounts do typically show on credit reports for 10 years from date of closure. Just because the Nordstrom is listed does not mean it is still open - look at account status. As a point of reference I had a Kohls card which I used once. This store card was subsequently closed by the card issuer 52 months after last use and included the statement "closed due to inactivity". So, store cards are not immune to closure.
If you want to keep the Nordstrom card (assuming it is still open) use it once - but not until after you have locked in your mortgage rate.
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks, will do that!
One card is from Nordstrom which was never used. My wife opened it 5 years ago because the "cashier told her to"
As a start I would suggest you allow a small balance to report on the higher CL Quicksilver. However, you do need to use the Platinum card periodically to avoid closure. You can PIF this card before statement cuts as the credeit card issuer obviously knows the card has been used even though balance reported to the CRAs is zero.
Long term (post mortgage) I would suggest rotating which card reports a balance - not required but that would be my approach.
P.S. Closed accounts do typically show on credit reports for 10 years from date of closure. Just because the Nordstrom is listed does not mean it is still open - look at account status. As a point of reference I had a Kohls card which I used once. This store card was subsequently closed by the card issuer 52 months after last use and included the statement "closed due to inactivity". So, store cards are not immune to closure.
If you want to keep the Nordstrom card (assuming it is still open) use it once - but not until after you have locked in your mortgage rate.
So if we assume that the Nordstrom was in fact closed, it doesn't look as bad of an idea to open a new CC? I'm probably not going to go that route, just curious.
They usually report a couple days after the statement date.
