Need help optimizing credit scores for mortgage

[jg1983]

So you think her scores are high enough right now? On creditchecktotal it lists the things negatively affecting her mortgage score as short account history, no revolving accounts and no credit card activity. I could try adding her to my NFCU credit card if they will report on her credit. Maybe I could transfer the $400 balance to my DCU card first to make it a zero balance. That account is about as old as the DCU account. Do you think it is worth trying this to boost her score or should we just leave things as is and try for a mortgage?

[thornback]

If she has no primary revolving accounts (accounts in her name) then the simulator is correct that adding a primary account will boost her scores  -- and 30 points is right about the average boost we see when adding the first revolver and letting it report a small balance (credit limit doesn't matter if util is already low - it could be a $200 secured card and you'd get the same result).  It will eliminate the 'no revolving accounts' &  'no credit activity' negative reason codes.  Adding her to an AU on an old card may help the short account history, but won't help the 'no revolving accounts' &  'no credit activity' negative reason codes.

HOWEVER --  to @SouthJamaica's point -  You should avoid adding new credit within 12 months of seeking a mortage.  

[SouthJamaica]

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@jg1983 wrote:
So you think her scores are high enough right now? On creditchecktotal it lists the things negatively affecting her mortgage score as short account history, no revolving accounts and no credit card activity. I could try adding her to my NFCU credit card if they will report on her credit. Maybe I could transfer the $400 balance to my DCU card first to make it a zero balance. That account is about as old as the DCU account. Do you think it is worth trying this to boost her score or should we just leave things as is and try for a mortgage?

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If you have an old account you can add her to it as an authorized user. That may help her scores.

[jg1983]

Ok so I think I'll call NFCU and see if adding my wife will result in the account being reported to her credit. If not I'll just forget about it and proceed with her score as is. My credit union told me they would give me a mortgage if my score was over 620 and add my wife as a co borrower if her score is over 620 so we easily meet that requirement. Also they approved my wife as a co borrower on our personal loan with no credit history whatsoever and I have heard from other people they have fairly lenient credit requirements for lending in general. I'm just wondering how much better the terms will be if we can get her score up. I know it varies by lender but any insight into that? Is it going to make a significant difference if her score is 650 versus 680-690 in other words. I am still waiting on Equifax to investigate and delete a collection account so I could work on my wife's situation while I wait for that. Experian and TU removed the account saying it couldn't be verified so I think it's just a matter of time before Equifax does the same. If not I have other remedies to fix this. Other than that my Experian and TU reports and scores are in far better shape than what I was hoping to achieve thanks to the advice you guys provided.

[jg1983]

Doing a little looking on these forums it appears NFCU does report on an AUs credit. However they don't report past payment history for the original account holder. It appears that capital one also reports on an AUs credit but they actually report the payment history of the original account holder. My NFCU card has a $1600 limit while my capital one card has a $500 limit. I can get either one of them down to a zero balance before adding my wife. Both are over two years old with the NFCU card being about 6 months older than the capital one card. My thought is it is better to add her to the capital one card because she would gain my payment history even though the limit is lower. Assuming all the information above can be verified is this the correct move to make?

[Anonymous]

I’m curious to know how it all went for you. I’m hoping to took sound advice and held off on buying a house yet with such a tight budget. The early response you got was a very good advice and I hope you took it. Pay off all your debt, have something in savings for anything that might come and then save your a down payment. Don’t rush such a big decision.