All Forum Posts by: Jim R.

Thanks for the additional info Jonathon, Matt, and Kyle. I did some investigating and the main things affecting my score are credit utilization (mostly due to low credit limits since even modest balances can push the % utilization up too high) and age of accounts (too many new). Seems like I can't do much about this except keep balances low and continue making payments on time. I can try to ask for limit increases on existing cards, but one request was already declined, presumably because my credit score is too low!

It all seems like such a racket. My payment history on more than a dozen different installment accounts over the years is superb, but it seems like that's not helping me. It's all about playing the credit card game.

I did have one credit card at about 80% of the credit limit at the time I pulled my scores (all three). I've since paid that off completely. I also bought a new car a couple months ago, so that's a new loan I've barely started to pay down. I was thinking about putting a few thousand toward that if it might boost my score.

I agree about the ARM. It's been nice while it's lasted, but I need to get into a fixed rate soon. I'll talk to a lender for sure, but my feeling is that I should get the fixed rate on my primary residence before I do anything else. Just not sure how soon I'll be able to get another mortgage after refinancing.

Thanks for your reply, Jon!

Hello,

I'm looking at buying my first rental property this year and I'm trying to get my personal finances in order. I own my primary residence and have an ARM that's been working out well for me in the past couple years since rates have been low. I estimate I have about 30% equity in my home based on recent comps and I earn a good income from my day job. Two things I'd like to get some advice on:

1. I plan to refinance my primary residence at some point, but I haven't been motivated to do it because my payments have been so low. Is there any reason to do it before I attempt to get financing for an investment property?

2. I have good payment history (just one late payment about three years ago), but my credit score is still just under 700 - not too bad, but probably not where I need it to be. I think it might be due to using too high a percentage of my available credit. When I first bought my home in 2004 I did an 80/20 loan. I paid off the second mortgage, but I still owe almost all of what I borrowed on the first and I'm thinking that's hurting my score. Seems like I would have done better if it was all one loan that I paid down by 20%. In any event, since I'm looking to be in a position to buy an investment property soon, applying for new credit to improve my score seems like a bad idea. What's my best move here in terms of improving my score? Any way to handle the refi above to my advantage?

Thanks!
Jim