@Anonymous wrote:
Okay, so I'll try not to make this too painful and lengthy to read but would greatly appreciate any input from all you experts!
Hubby and I have been working with our LO for a couple years getting us exactly where we need to be to buy our first home! As of now, we're looking at our house starting to be built in March. We've worked our butts off on hubby's credit to make sure it's as best as possible (my credit won't be factored due to being a stay at home mom) but have a few questions.
Current myFICO mortgage scores as of 12/28/15
EX:676
TU:685
EQ:650
-Our LO wants a mid score of 680 so we can get thru automated underwriting. So we're VERY CLOSE, but need a boost.
Q1. We have 2 inquiries set to fall off come March. Any guesses on how many points increase we could see when they do?
This one relates to CC and utilization.
Currently, my husband has 3 cc's and our auto loan.
Cap1 Platinum-$0 balance/$400 limit/0%util
Cap1Quiksilver-$0 balance/$400 limit/0%util
Verve Card-$5 balance/$500 limit/1%util
Aggregate util- .0038%
-I know there's a sweet spot for utilization vs number of cards and having 1 with a balance while the others report $0. My question is 1) For having 3 cards, are we doing best having only the one report a balance and others $0? 2)Does utilization always round up? I know both aggregate and individual utilization are factored in, but I'm worried our aggregate will report as 0% (which we all know penalizes us)
Q1. By "fall off" do you mean aged 2 years or passing the 1 year mark? While on the report for 2 years once inquires pass one year they no longer have a FICO score impact. It will help in a manual review that those inquiries drop however.
Utilization rounds up but you might want to have at least $10 on that card. It's possible that the CRA could calculate a $5 balance as zero. Anything under 4% overall you're not going to gain any incremental points.
Auto loan (not listed?) - what is the utilization on the loan (remaining balance/original balance)? To maximise the installment loan score you'll want that below 9% or as low as possible as well.
@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you so much!
-The 2 inquiries will reach the 2 year mark and age off.
-The auto loan is listed and has 13,000 to pay off currently out of 16,000. (We got it 2/24/2014)
-Should I also stick with letting 1 out of 3 cards report a balance and the others $0?
Auto loan - recommend paying down to at least 79% remaining in case there is a score break at 80% remaining. That would be under $12,640. The more you can pay down without impacting your down payment ability the better.
Balance - yes, you only want a single card reporting.
Also, how long has he had the Cap1 cards? Would be worth it to try and get a credit line increase as well. Always a soft pull.
As long as you keep your balance under $50 on the Verve you should be just fine. I wouldn't let it report any less than $10 just in case.
@Anonymous wrote:
Wow! I never knew that about the auto loan part! Thank you! Will definitely work on getting that below 80%.
He's has one cap1 since 7/2013 and the other cap1 since 4/2015. The verve card just hit its 1 yr anniversary as well.
If he hasn't tried to increase those cap 1 credit lines in the last 6 months i definitely recommend it. Also, if' you're paying annual fees on either you can probably ask customer service to PC the card or waive the fees.