Need to raise my FICO as much as possible within 2-3 months

[chryanna]

Hi all,

I just got my official FICO scores, and I'm a little surprised they're so low (all three 699-705). I am carrying higher balances than I ever have before- hopefully I just need to pay those down to improve the score? Posting here though for additional tips since I'm looking to buy my first house in a few months, and I'd really like to get the best mortgage possible:

Age of oldest account (26.5 years) - (My parents listed me as an authorized user on their credit card when I was in college to help with this.)

Average age of accounts: 8.5 years

Number of credit inquiries: 4

Type/debt of accounts:

Student loans: ~60k, paid down from 160k 4 years ago. Several different lenders. Some of these accounts were paid down early and are completely closed. All in good standing.

Car loans - one paid off last year; one with 2 years and 10k remaining. 2 different lenders.

Credit card limits: 77k (About 5 different cards including one store card, 1 Amex and a few other rewards cards)

Credit card utilization 21k (10k of this is on my parents' card, which has a limit of 20k. So I can't pay this down- would it be better to just take this card off my list? My average age of accounts would drop to about 6 years, I think.)

Late payments:

Only one thirty day late- but it was pretty recent- August 2014. It was my BoA credit card and I'm pretty upset about the delinquency, but after conversations with the lender, I don't think there's much prospect of getting it removed from my credit, especially any time soon.

I feel like the only thing I can realistically improve is utilization. It is possible for me to pay off my credit cards in two months. Should I pay them completely off? Or is there a percent utilization I should target? Should I remove my parents' card and suffer the hit in account age in exchange for lower utilization? Am I pretty much screwed in the lower 700s until the 30 day late is older?

Any advice is super appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Removing your parents card is a good idea. It is hurting you by both impacting your overall utilization as well as high utilization on a single card. Removing the account may not effect your AAoA but YMMV because issuers deal with AUs differently with the way they report. Even if your AAoA is hurt, chances are the utilization reduction will help more than the reduced AAoA and credit history will hurt. 

As far as utilization, having a zero balance on all cards but one and having a 1-9% reported utilization balance will generally lead to the best score. Whether 1% or 9% or something in between is better varies from person to person based on your overall credit profile. 

Finally, the delinquent payment is likely hurting you more than anything else. Unfortunately, if BoA won't fix it, this is something only time can resolve. 

[HiLine]

The only thing you can do really is:

Be REALLY aggressive about getting the late payment record removed. This is the only thing separating you from 740+. Removing your AU card will give you a few points, but if you want to get the best rates, you need to get the late payment record removed. We're talking about a saving in the ballpark of $500/year here. Your effort will be worth it.