Posted on: 26th Jan, 2012 02:24 am
Hello… We contacted a mortgage broker about getting a loan. My middle score is 618 and my wife’s is 624. Well, I know 620 is minimum required for a VA loan. She told us if we get our credit cards down to 25% it will raise our scores by 50 pts. Is this really possible? Is that right as well? We are in AZ.
It is true that if you pay off the credit cards to some extent, they will definitely raise your score. However, it will take some time to get it reflected on your credit score.
If you decide to pay off loans completely than it will raise your score from 10 - 100. but if you are paying 25% than it will just add 10 to 20 points in your credit report. Maybe in less than 30 days.but first negotiate with them and try to get something in writing on company letter head. because sometime They may not do it.
As a loan officer (in AZ) I will often try to help people increase their FICO scores so they can qualify for a loan. I use a program called credit xpert that allows me to input different scenarios to see how much a score can potentially increase. I have found that paying credit cards down to a lower balance can increase scores by as much as 25 points (sometimes more, sometimes less) depending on the limit of the card and what the balance is. It typically takes 30 days for the new balance to be reported to the bureaus, but you may be able to negotiate something with the creditor.
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