First-Time Buyer & Credit Score

Coswal21

Hello all. New to the forum and have a question about credit score in the context of mortgages.

I'm a soon-to-be first-time buyer, in my early 30s, recently married, and have approximately $6K in credit card debt that I've held on two cards for just under a year. I've cycled payments and purchases on both cards but they always lingered in the $2-3K range, which I believe is adversely affecting my credit score. I am now able to zero both of them out and am considering doing so as I would like to buy a house in the next 6-12 months. My wife and I have a combined gross income of approximately $90k/yr and are shooting for a home in the $250-300k range (not sure how many of these details are important to share but am doing so in case it helps with advice).

All that said, how important is a solid credit score for first time home buyers (particular in our condition, given the details above)? I currently have a "fair" credit score (in the 690-700 range). What should my target score be to get us the best mortgage rate? Will zeroing out the credit cards help to raise the score, and if so by approximately how much and in how long? Are there other things that we could do to help the score (i.e: getting rid of one of the cards or adding another; keeping a smaller amount on one or both cards and cycling through it regularly; etc.), and help us get the best possible mortgage rate for that matter?

Your help is much appreciated! Thank you all ahead of time, and thanks for putting together this great forum!

[Deleted User]

I think you may have inadvertently wandered across to the wrong side of the pond. This is a UK site and credit scores work very differently here.

Coswal21

Deleted_User wrote: »

I think you may have inadvertently wandered across to the wrong side of the pond. This is a UK site and credit scores work very differently here.

Fancy that, I figured all UK sites respected the .co.uk extension. Thanks for clarifying.