The credit score playbook

The two mechanics that are ~65% of the game

1. Payment history (~35%)

One rule: nothing 30+ days late, ever, on anything that reports.A single 30-day late can cost more points than everything else on this page gains you. The cheat code is boring: autopay the minimum on every account, then pay more manually. The minimum autopay is your safety net, not your strategy.

2. Utilization (~30%) — the fast lever

Utilization is your card balances ÷ your card limits, and it hasno memory — it's recalculated from whatever your statements report this month. That makes it the fastest-moving lever in the game:

• Keep reported balances under 30% of limits; under 10% is where scores tend to get happy.
• Balances usually report on your statement date, not the due date. Paying most of the balance before the statement cuts can drop your reported utilization within one cycle.
• Ask for credit limit increases on cards you already handle well — same balance, bigger denominator, lower utilization. (Ask whether it's a soft or hard pull first.)
• Don't close old cards before buying — you'd shrink your total limit and raise utilization in one move.

The slower levers

• Credit age (~15%): keep the oldest accounts open and occasionally used. Time does this one for you.
• New credit (~10%): in the 6–12 months before a mortgage, stop opening things. Every new card, phone plan financing, and buy-now-pay-later account is a fresh inquiry and a younger average age.
• Mix (~10%): mostly ignore this. Don't take a loan you don't need to "improve your mix."

Fix the errors (they're common)

Pull your reports free at annualcreditreport.com — the actual federally authorized site — from all three bureaus. Dispute anything that's wrong: accounts that aren't yours, payments marked late that weren't, balances that were paid. Disputes are free, done directly with each bureau online, and errors are more common than people think.

Mistakes that blow up buyers at the worst time

• Financing furniture/a car mid-mortgage. Lenders re-check credit before closing. New debt can re-shape your approval. Buy the couch after you have the keys.
• Closing cards to "clean up." Feels tidy; raises utilization and cuts credit age.
• Paying a collection without a plan. Sometimes paying an old collection helps, sometimes it renews attention on it. This is exactly the kind of thing to walk through with a professional before acting.
• Credit-repair companies charging for what's free. Disputes cost $0. Anyone promising to "remove accurate information" is selling something that doesn't exist.

Why this matters for your house specifically

Many MN Housing programs work from a640 score, and rate pricing improves in tiers as your score climbs. The difference between score tiers can mean a meaningfully different monthly payment on the same house — which is why a few months of playbook is often worth more than a year of extra saving.

Not sure where you stand? Ashlyn can look at your situation and tell you honestly whether you're ready now, or three focused months away. No hard pull needed for that conversation.