Hey Ags,

I had my identity stolen. I have a credit monitoring service and have spent hours getting inquiries removed. I get a monthly update with my score (experian owned company) and it shows 800 plus.

I am now applying for a construction loan. The score came back at 760. They have 780 to get the best rate, a 250 basis difference.

I can't tell why the scores are so different. I had them send me their report. Things I noticed:

-1.2 mill loan showing. paid off 12/17
-small car balance. paid off 2/18

We pay cards monthly but of course it shows current balances.

Any thoughts on if I can "goose" my score 20 points by controlling any of those factors? I don't know how long the paid mortgage takes to show but would that boost scores?

Finally, will paying all my cards early boost the score temp (is it fluid like that?). If so how much before they run it should I do that?

Thank you for reading and I appreciate the help.

Pay all your credit cards off, don't charge anything until after the loan is done.

That should do it.

If the car loan is able to be paid off do that too but that's probably over-kill.

i'm no credit expert, but my understanding is that percentage of credit used matters. since you responsibly pay off cards monthly, ask for increases in the credit limit of card(s). but be careful, only increase to the amount or by an amount the credit card companies will allow without a hard credit inquiry.

pathAG04 said:

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i'm no credit expert, but my understanding is that percentage of credit used matters. since you responsibly pay off cards monthly, ask for increases in the credit limit of card(s). but be careful, only increase to the amount or by an amount the credit card companies will allow without a hard credit inquiry.

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Yep - called "credit utilization".... Definitely want to keep it under 30%. 10-20% is even better. Also - it's not just how much balance you're carrying at the end of the month. They update weekly.

For example - I have a small card with a $400 limit. Pay it off every month (have never paid a dime of interest), but during the middle of a month, I had charged $200 to it. Checked credit karma and my score was hit since I had "50% credit utilization."

mortgage said:

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pathAG04 said:

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i'm no credit expert, but my understanding is that percentage of credit used matters. since you responsibly pay off cards monthly, ask for increases in the credit limit of card(s). but be careful, only increase to the amount or by an amount the credit card companies will allow without a hard credit inquiry.

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Yep - called "credit utilization".... Definitely want to keep it under 30%. 10-20% is even better. Also - it's not just how much balance you're carrying at the end of the month. They update weekly.

For example - I have a small card with a $400 limit. Pay it off every month (have never paid a dime of interest), but during the middle of a month, I had charged $200 to it. Checked credit karma and my score was hit since I had "50% credit utilization."

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thank you. so if I pay them all now how long does it take for score to update by chance?