Hey folks, DH and I are looking to buy our first home via an FHA loan, preferrably before December 1st, '09 but are wanting to raise our scores a bit. We've paid off all derogatory, charge off and CC accounts on our credit reports. Alls left on DH's is a couple medical bills, but our scores are still in the mid to high 500's. We've opened a secured credit card through our bank and have a good standing auto loan. DH's student loan was late 90 days, but has been good and current for the past 6 months, would Sallie Mae take off the late payments now that we're on a good path if we call and be reeeeaaaly swweet? Any tricks of the trade you all can give a newbie at this? Anyway to get the derogatory/ charge off accounts deleted? Ohhhhh, and would it be a good idea or not, to try having an old, closed CC account reopened? Sorry if any of these questions have been asked/answered already, i've been reading around and hadn't found any direct answers to my situation. Thanks in advance!!
IMHO, let the old, closed CC account remain closed. To the best of my understanding, it might show up as "new" credit, even though it's actually old. Maybe someone with a more intimate understanding of FICO's mechanics can give a clearer answer. I just do my best to avoid "new" credit of any kind. As for SLM, I've been able to work with them on some serious debt, but I never sent them a goodwill letter to ask them to remove it. It's worth a shot -- the worst that will happen is that they say no! My scores (the real ones from MyFICO) had dropped back to the upper 500's about six months ago. Since then only two things have changed: (1) My credit report is six months older, and (2) about five inquiries from 2007 dropped off. My score is now around 625. That should not have happened, but it did.
