New Mortgage / Credit Score - Questions

[Jason Stephens]

Good Afternoon,

My wife and I made some good money on the appreciation of our existing home and we want to buy and invest in a new home.  

Here is my current situation:

Mortgage Amount: $370,000

Home Value - $650,000

HELOC #1 - $49,000

CC Debt: $45,000

Credit Score: 650

Income: $209,000

I am looking to sell my home, and get something in the $800k-$1 Million Dollar range. With all of the interest I am paying, I would rather pay off the debt with the home sale and put that money towards the principle on a higher mortgage.

I recently went to the first HELOC company and asked to increase the HELOC to $100k to pay off the CC debt and help my cashflow., they shot the idea down because they said I was going to use the money to do the same thing I did with the first HELOC. My financial guy said telling them less is more and that a new bank may say yes. Thoughts?

I thought if I was able to lower the balances on all my CC's so they weren't up against the limit, my credit score would improve. Is this a good assumption?

My goal is to get my credit score higher so I can qualify for better mortgages quicker. 

Any suggestions?