How hard is it to get 6 points on my Equifax??

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

 I'm new here and I've read through several forums over the last two weeks. Both, my husband and myself, have been offered and accepted jobs out of state. It's happened at a very rapid pace; so much so that we have not planned to sell our house or even pack. I'm attempting to get a second mortgage, because the area we are moving to has no rentals- I mean none.. I've searched the last two weeks. It's apparently a owner's area. If we do not have a date of closing by the end of this month, our children will not be able to go to school there. They don't accept hotel addresses either. Anyway.. I say all of that in hopes you'll understand my sense of urgency. I need 6 points on my Experian FICO score in order to qualify for the second mortgage. The  mortgage company apparently uses myFICO5 and the scores reported on myFICO are from FICO8 I believe (Remember I said I was new to all of this) I was advised to pay off my medical collection bill (by customer service at Equifax as well as my lender). Although I questioned that, they insisted paying it off would help them to get it removed once they did a rapid rescore. I did that Friday. I only have one credit card and it has a $1,000.00 limit. I paid it down from $618.00 to $226.00 on Friday. I was advised this would help my credit score increase as well.I've called to ask when they report and they did it two days before my payment (Imagine that!). I've used the myFICO score simulator as well as Equifax's simulator. It estimates my credit score should increase by approximately 30 points. How accurate is this? Also- I received an update on my collection status on myFICO today as well and guess what: NO INCREASE! I should've stuck with my gut and continued to make monthly payments on it. Have you received any luck with RapidRescore? Is there any other advice you can offer to me? Thank you in advance.

[Anonymous]

First, whomever told you that paying the collection would increase your score didn't know what they are talking about. A neg is a neg, whether paid or not. Second, you should pay the card down to below $100, (but don't pay it off), for maximum scoring.

[RonM21]

Agree. Pay that card down to under 100, then try to get them to do an immediate off cycle update or the rapid rescore process. Paying the collection down only helps you if you get it removed afterwards. If it is still on your report, it doesn't change anything. They told you paying it off would help them get it removed, but I don't get how doing the rescore removes it from your reports. They need to go to whomever owns the debt to remove it.

[Anonymous]

Try paying your credit card balance in full or down to 1%. I find that this increases credit scores approximately 6-10 points, even if the utilization is already really low. Do this and you should see a credit score boost within a month.

Another tip is try getting a credit line increase (only if there is no hard pull). If you can get your credit line from 1,000 to 3,000 you should see a score boost within a month as well.

Lastly, see if you can get someone who has a higher credit line to add you as an authorized user. I've seen this raise scores about 20-30 points.

*By the way bringing your credit card balance from $226.00 which is 23% to under 10% will definitely boost your score.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Update: I paid my credit card down to $227 right before the statement mailed out. After reading the comments, I paid it down to $99 but the mortgage lender had to use what was on the statement. They did a rapid rescore and it increased my score by 24 points, which got me approved for a second mortgage!! Thanks for all the advice!!

[Anonymous]

Awesome! Congrats on the score increase and on your soon to be new home/job! Glad it worked out in your favor.

[Anonymous]

Congrats on the positive outcome. 

[pc01user]

I know it was not easybut Good Job!

[Anonymous]

Congrats!