@Anonymous
Good afternoon! FICO 5/4/2 scores are NOTORIOUSLY sensitive to recent activity. Any Hard Pull (aka, hard inquiry - or anything that results in a Hard Pull....keep in mind that certain "providers" do a hard pull for a Credit Line Increase....) or New Accounts in the last six months? In the last 12 months? In the last 18 months?
If you do not know this, then please consider looking at your three credit reports (from Equifax, Experian, Transunion). You may get them every seven days from annualcreditreport.com (this is due to the pandemic and - as of today - is good through April, 2022).
The late payment is hurting - in general - as well. And, from the way you worded things, it does not sound like this late payment from seven months ago is actually a "30-day" late in the classic sense of the word. In other words, does not sound like it would be reported to the three CRAs as a delinquent payment, thus hitting you hard. It sounds like - again, from the way I read what you wrote - that it was paid on the due date but their "process" failed you and that resulted in the payment being posted "two days late" (based on the due date).
Looking at your credit reports will also confirm or refute what I am suggesting. Look at your mortgage account....do you see a red "30" in March (or April) instead of a green check (that is how Equifax shows things...Transunion would likely be a a bolded "30" if there is a "30-day" delinquent payment, otherwise there is a black "OK")?
And have you implemented AZEO (All Zero Except One)?
Starting Score: Exp 627
As previously mentioned, the mortage scores are particularly sensitive to recent activity including hard inquiries and new accounts. The standard advice is not to apply for any new credit products in the 12 months leading up to a mortgage application. The mortgage scores are also very sensitive to accounts with balances. To optimize the mortgage scores, the best way is to implement AZEO where you have as few accounts as possible reporting any balance at all as well as very low reported utilization. If your late payment was indeed reported as a 30 day late, you may have grounds to dispute it, but I really doubt it was reported as late to the CRAs if it was just 2 days 'late'.
@Anonymous wrote:So, I think I worded that wrong. We were 30 days late due to COVID and job changes. I was told it was okay as long as I paid before the 30-day mark. I paid it on day 30 but they processed it 2-days later. I've been fighting it.
we have balances on a few things as we have been paying down. Our credit scores have jumped about 75 points in the last year but the one used for a mortgage has barely moved. I guess it may just be about the waiting game.
we do have 1 new account/inquire for a car Bc my husbands car needed replacing. We were waiting until we bought but could not wait any longer. Again, our DTI is still less than 30%. I know by the end of the year we will have our other SUV paid off along with 3 cards. We've been snowballing the debt and it's what we have left.
Ok, that makes more sense about the 30 day late. Yea, I'd certainly ask for goodwill removal of that late if possible, and maybe even see if you have the necessary proof to file a dispute with the CRAs. You're going to have to provide some proof you weren't actually 30 days late for a dispute to be found in your favor. If your lender has some verbiage in the fine print of the contract saying the payment has to be 'posted' by a certain date to not be considered late, you may not win a dispute. Better to work it from the lender to see if they will remove the late.
As I noted before, the mortgage scores are just so, so sensitive to new accounts and accounts with balances, and you seem to have both right now. As your new car loan ages, and as you pay off more and more accounts, you should see some improvement in the mortgage scores as well. Good luck.
@Anonymous wrote:my husband and I have been working on fixing/raising our scores to by a house. Over the past year, our consumer scores have increased; however, the scores lenders use for mortgages have not. There is about a 75 point difference. can someone explain why this may be and what we need to do in order to get those scores raised? our DTI is less than 30%, we did have 1 late payment on our last mortgage reported 7 months ago that we did try to fight..the payment was submitted on the date it was suppose to but their system processed it 2 days later. Could this be the reason? We have been renting a home for 6 months now; however, the property mgmt company does not report this to creditors. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Based on my experience, I believe that the primary differences between the mortage scores and the FICO 8 scores are as follows:
1. The "age" factors, such as inquiries, new accounts, average age of accounts... are weighed more heavily in the mortgage scores.
2. The mortgage scores are more concerned with number of zero account balances; the more the better, except that one bank card should report a balance each month.
3. The mortgage scores penalize more heavily for very high utilization individual accounts.
4. The FICO 8 scores penalize more heavily for high aggregate utilization.
5. Very low installment utilization (9% or lower aggregate) is rewarded in FICO 8, usually ignored in mortgage scores.
