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OP, what is the source of your credit scores?
Also, you said you started with a 680 score. That seems a bit low for a profile that has no negative items and no high utilization. Perhaps because there was no revolvers present... but I'm not sure. What is the age of your oldest account and the average age of your accounts? Based on your original post, I got the impression that your file wasn't young nor was it extremely thin (student loans, auto loan). That being said, I would think your FICO scores are capable of being in the mid-upper 700's generally speaking based on the limited information you've provided us thus far.
Hi GoinForIt. Did you see my response earlier? I include it below again in case you missed it.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
... Im wanting to buy a larger home and will need to finance some of it, so am working on my credit.... My score since then has slowly moved up to 720, 738, and 758 depending where I look. I'd like to ideally get to 800 or at least to a solid super prime score across all three bureaus.I have cut much of the original post so that we can hone in on the fact that what is driving our guy is a home purchase.
GoinFor800... are the scores you describe above FICO 8 scores? Or are they FICO mortgage scores? It's the latter that should be moving everything for you. What tools are you using to get your scores currently?
My recomendation is that you implement AZEO as soon as possible, wait until all the new CC balances are reporting and then (after that) purchase your mortgage scores. We can walk you through that.
I would not pay the auto loan down yet. There's many reasons not to right away. First off only one of the three mortgage scores seems to be helped by loan paydowns. Another is that paying the loan down to "almost nothing" could cause the loan to pay off prematurely, depending on the lender, which might be a problem. Finally if the loan does pay off prematurely you can't reverse that, whereas CC balances are easy to fiddle with.
PS. When do you envision buying the house? (Best guess.) Three months from now? Six? Twelve?
The scores from your credit cards are definitely not the scores your mortgage lender will use.
I encourage you to implement AZEO as a few other folks have recommended. Then use a free tool like Credit Karma to track when the new AZEO balances have materialized on your reports. After that has happened, purchase a subscription to the myFICO Ultimate credit monitoring service. It will give you your mortgage scores. You may be in great shape at that point.
Definitely do not not do the loan paydown until you know what AZEO will accomplish for you. A loan paydown is often better used as a downpayment for mortgages.
Don't apply for any new credit until after your mortgage has closed. Mortgage lenders don't like new accounts. In your six to twelve month timeframe, you'll be fine, though. In the meantime, your scores will continue to rise simply due to aging factors.
Have you pulled your mortgage scores via the myFICO Ultimate tool?
@Anonymous wrote:
Did AZEO...I'm at 780 now.
OP, just a suggestion, but any time you reference a score you should mention what type of score it is. I know back in October when you were asked about the type of scores you were referencing you said you weren't sure, just that they were coming from your CC accounts, CMS's, etc. A "780" in and of itself doesn't mean much. If it's a VS 3.0 score, it's meaningless. If it's a FICO 8 score, it's meaningful but not the best. If it's a TU FICO 4 score (a mortgage flavor) it's extremely meaningful and ideal for the sake of this discussion considering your home purchase goal.
If you aren't sure what type of score you're referencing, check out the page where you're seeing that score. Usually right below the score or perhaps if you scroll all the way down on the page in some fine print you'll find the scoring model/bureau referenced. If not, sometimes this is in the FAQ for whatever your source is. If you still aren't sure, if you post for us the source of the score more than likely someone will chime in with the exact scoring model provided by that source.