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Improving Husband's Credit Score
My credit is good, my husband's? Not so much. Due to a mixup with his credit union, he'd been defaulting on a loan he had - he had asked if the loan payments could be lowered, they said, "sure," but failed to tell him that every time he made the new agreed-upon payment his credit score would drop. We're working with a mortgage broker who said we could get my husband's credit score back up within a matter of months. Taking his advice we paid off the delinquent amount on the loan and are now working on paying off the rest of it. I made my husband an authorized user on my credit card, and we're working on getting my husband a secure credit card (although this has been a tough/confusing situation because apparently Chase Bank doesn't offer this type of card).
My question is this: Does this broker know what he's talking about? Can my husband's credit score really go up enough for him to be on the mortgage with me in just a few months? Because everything I read says it's going to take a few YEARS. We've been looking at houses, but I don't want to get our hopes up if this morgtage is just not going to happen.
Re: Improving Husband's Credit Score
Depends how high you need to go. Don't do a Chase bank secured card. Get a Capitol One Card. It's easier there. Use it a couple times pay it. Remember, it's not how much you pay off it's how reliable you are on payments. Delinquent payments are harsher than the debt its self. You can raise your score by 50 points just by using a revolving credit line AND coming current on debt payments.
Though take care of medical bills first, those account hard!
Good luck.
I think it largely depends on how high you need it to go up. I had always heard that credit scores have no quick fix - and that usually raising your score takes a long, steady approach. However some other posters have obviously had other experiences.
I would definitely consult a second opinion. It sounds like this guy might just be trying to sell you on something, so a second opinion would be in your best interest.
How low is low?
Any work to move a credit score up is great, but it depends on where you need to be to get the loan you want.
And, there isn't a quick fix. It's usually a longer road of complete, on time payments and responsible use of credit that rebuilds a score.
Always remember that no matter how nice and/or helpful a banker or a broker is, their job is in sales and their job is to get loan applications. Some are great and honest. Others, not so much. Always do your homework. I'm a SAHM now, but my previous job was in banking as a banker/loan officer...speaking from first-hand knowledge.
My credit had taken a turn for the worse about 5 years ago, but have been working really hard to get it back.
While I was able to get it up a lot, when I did my annual credit check at the end of last year, it still wasn't enough. I was planning on looking at houses at some point - we were just starting to save.
I got myself a credit card through Capital One (I was too ashamed to tell FI how small my credit limit was...). But I'd charge on it, and pay it off right away. Which I thought would help.
We ended up talking to a loan officer, and I found out that what I was doing was not helping because it wasn't showing amount owed & re-payment because I wasn't allowing for a full billing cycle.
He told me to do this (not sure how or if this would apply for your H, but maybe?):
Month 1: Charge up about 30% of the credit limit. When my bill was due, pay the minimum payment + $5.
Month 2: Don't charge anything else on it & when the bill comes, pay it off.
Repeat.
I believe I had only done this once (and was going on my first repeat of this). At that time, FI had gone in to sign our loan paper work to get started on our closing. The bank had to do another credit check as the time was about to lapse for our pre-approval. My credit score had already gone up 30 points. My credit limit has gone up on its own (I never requested it; I was never notified or asked).
I don't know if this is something your H can do, but it may still help. It's not going to raise it very fast, but it will hopefully get things going. I don't want to say for sure that this is the right thing for his situation, but this has been really helping me and wanted to share in case this is something that would help.