I'm making a mess of things and I'm semi-freaking out. Any (all) advice is welcome!
Hubs and I are looking to purchase a home within the next 6-8 months. My scores were decent enough, but no - I had to go snooping around like some no-good teenager joy riding in the Mystery Machine.
I had a studen loan opened in 2004. It was traded off twice since its inception and was completely paid in full this last June. Of course, I thought that would be great but my scores dropped since those were (are) the only installment loans I've ever had.
Anyway student loan was reporting as 3 separate tradelines. They were a hot mess that had been in deferrment / forebearance. They had each had several misreported serious lates (90, 120) that I had half-heartedly tried to correct previously, but I never got anywhere with it since by the time I realized the errors (and cared), the company servicing the loan had shuttered.
Finding this forum, I purchased credit monitoring and opened some CC accounts. 5 new cards since last December. My only prior credit is an account with Care Credit I opened in 2012. The newest accounts are two I just opened this November.
Then I learned about disputing the lates in my student loans with the credit reporting agencies directly. Great! I opened disputes on my loans with all 3 CRAs for the mis-reported lates.
Apparently because the loans are closed and fully paid, both EQ and TU have removed the payment history completely from my file. Deleted. I can only assume EX will follow suit.
I am devastated as my AAoA has plummeted from 5 years-ish to just over 1 year. My Amex I opened in August still has yet to report and my Venture opened Nov still has to report.
While my payment history is now impeccable and my util is always less than 10%, I am freaking out that my scores will plummet when I pull my next 3B report in Feb.
Any thoughts, recommendations, or good scornful finger wagging?
I have thought of these scenarios:
1. STOP TOUCHING MY ACCOUNTS. Leave everything alone and garden like a possessed Amish housewife prepping for winter.
2. OPEN AN INSTALLMENT LINE. Popular on the boards seems to be opening a $500 secured Alliant loan, paying it down to below 10 to 20% util, then making minimum payments just to keep the loan reporting as long as possible.
3. Have my husband add my as an authorized user to his oldest CC which is thru his credit union (Partners FCU) and hope it backdates payment history etc and boosts my AAoA.
4. Fight the CRAs to put the TLs back (although this seems a foolhardy and useless endeavor).
5. Forgo the mortgage. Move to the mountains, build a cabin and live off the land. Try to revive the barter system and bring back the "sexy female lumberjack hobo" look. Possibly easier said than done in SoCal.
So again, I'd really appreciate some words of wisdom. Or shaming. That's fine too.
Many thanks....
