We are about to go through a mortgage app in the next month or so, and I'm a bit unsure what is best to optimize for the mortgage scores. Hoping you guys may shed some light and help direct which path to take.
I'm holding off on buying the 3B MyFICO product until next week. At that time, my DW and I will be 1 year since our last accounts opened, both of us got 2 cards each. We did pull a 3B Experian report this week to get a glimpse of our scores prior to the big 12 month aging event. We are in decent shape, but we still have a BK7 from 2012 showing on both of our reports (so we are in a "dirty" scorecard).
It is my understanding that a joint application mortgage will use the lowest middle mortgage score between my DW and I. It looks like our score is currently similar, at least on EX 2. Won't know the others until next week, and I'm hoping the "seeking credit" negative will disappear or reduce penalty after hitting the 12 month mark on AoYR and inquiries or not scorable.
Our scores from 2/25 are:
| EQ 8 | EX 8 | TU 8 | EQ 5 | EX 2 | TU 4 | |
| Mine | 751 | 718 | 740 | 714 | ||
| Wife's | 738 | 725 | 720 | 713 |
I will post updates and more info next week, but for starters I would like to understand the below a little more. I can't get both of us to below 9% aggregrate individually, but I may be able to get my account there. Doesn't make a difference, however, if the lender takes the lowest middle score between my wife or I. So I need to come up with a game plan that benefits both our scores. All accounts are at $0, except for DW's AMEX and my DISCO (still in 0% intro).
1) I've seen it mentioned that the older FICO scores don't include TL that have a CL over a certain amount. My DW AMEX is at $35k CL, and it has the largest balance @ $11k currently. Will the older mortgage scores include this TL in their calculations or will they ignore it completely as if it doesn't exist?
2) If they ignore #1 above, then would it be best to focus the attack on my Disco (will be $4k on $20,100 CL next week without attacking it) to bring it down below 8.9% UTI? My DW is an AU on this account, so it will affect her TCL as well as mine.
More questions to come I'm sure! 
I'm hoping the TU and EQ mortgage variants will reflect simlarly as to their FICO 8 counterparts, which are higher than EX for both of us. I was surprised to see both our EX 2 scores nearly identical, though.
I think I know why my EX 8 is down compared to TU and EQ... I removed myself as AU on my DW's 3 year old Synch Car Care card in December. EX is the only one that has removed that account while TU and EQ still include it in my TCL. EX is reporting 10% agg UTI, where EQ and TU are reporting 9% agg UTI.
IMO don't focus on changes with your F8's as they are not the scores used for a MTG app. Some people's are close, some are far off. Mine are relatively far off from my FICO 8 scores (l30 to 44 pts lower). Different criteria. But each profile is different.
I'm not able to answer your specific questions but the best thing you can do with such a short period is reduce your UTL and report a balance on 1 card. My profile pretty much yields the same result with my MTG when 2/11 revolvers report as 1/11. The lower the UTL the best, and on the 1 card reporting and under 8.99% for that card may be the best. I just gained an additional 5 pts on the EX MTG (have a subscription with daily updates) when my UTL went under 6% but I'm still testing and believe it's actually because I went from 3/11 revolvers reporting to 2/11 revolvers reporting.
You've already stayed clear of new account for a year so again, with the limited time left before apping for a MTG, UTL and # of accts reporting is probably your best strategy if you're unable to get your BK7 removed early. MTG scores are more sensitive to # of accts reporting than FICO 8 scores.
Don't do anything until you know what's up for both of you after you get the 3B's.
It does no good to try to optimize when you don't know whose score is lower.
Sounds like you have similar history so being close in scores isn't unlikely but if your mid score is 720 and your wife's 710, obviously do everything you can to get her score above 720 too.
I'm trying to figure out if the mortgage scores are including her AMEX with a $35k CL. If they ignore it due to exceeding the limit on those old models, then only my Disco that she is an AU on is being factored into their mortgage scoring. In that case, lowering the balance on my Disco is the best approach, and it helps both of our scores.
On the other hand, if the old mortgage models do factor in her AMEX, then I need to obviously focus on lowering the balance on the AMEX. And possibly consider removing her as AU on my Disco so that only the AMEX carries a balance (all other accounts are $0).
Does the 3B myFico Premier product update just the EX scores daily? Are there other ways to get TU and EQ mortgage scores, at least a couple of times a month? I would like to know where we are in a couple of days and then later after making payments.
Thanks for the info, @CassieCard!