Hi all, I'm new here, and this is a great forum! My situation seems a little different than most I've read. Most postings are from people who had late charges a while back and have made timely payments more recently -- not me. DH & I have had OK credit for the past few years except for a high debt ratio. Recently, we hit some difficult times and our credit has taken a dive - mine more than his because of all my dept. store cards. We're racking up a lot of 30-day, a 60-day and even a 90-day late on our credit reports. His Experian FICO is around 570, and Equifax is in 540s. I got the TU report from worthknowing.com, so no score there. I just pulled my own TU report and haven't inquired about my score yet. His credit is better, so I want to get his straightened out first. To get an FHA mortgage we need the middle score of all 3 of his to be at least 620, which it was last November when we prequalified thru the lender. We're still running behind on some payments, but gradually catching up, although it will take some time. What would be the best damage control strategy at this point? Is there any way of raising our score with such recent late payments? I'm open to any and all suggestions. Thanks!
Are you sure it was an FHA? They aren't score driven, and last time I talked to someone about this loan, you can have no lates for 1 year. Actually, I'm in a similar boat. Old good, bad new, but I have been current for a few months. I'm actually waiting to reestablish steady on time payments again, before I even approach goodwill adjustments, but until you become current on everything even that may be a problem. The best damage control strategy I can offer you, is to get everything current as soon as you possibly can, and move forward from there.
Re: Past credit OK, recent credit b The 620 requirement might have been the bank's. When they ran our credit last November it probably had been a year since we had any lates, at least on my husband's credit. As far as catching up on all the credit card bills, all the late fees, overlimit fees, etc. have made it even harder since it has kicked us up over the credit limit, and they want us to pay it back down within the limit. In addition, they have raised the interest rates due to our bad credit, so it's like a double-edged sword. How long do you have to make current payments before requesting a goodwill agreement?
