Pick your loan date. Get a credit plan for every month until then.
Choose what you're applying for, the date you want to apply, and the score you're aiming for. The plan comes from your own card numbers: which statements report before that date, the balance to aim for on each one, when to stop opening new credit, and what to check 60 and 30 days out.
The planner needs no sign-up. No Social Security number, no bank login, no credit pull.
FICO calls 612 Fair
8 points to 620: a common lender minimum for conventional mortgages.
Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
What a plan looks like
Here's an example with round numbers. Yours is built from the date you pick and the cards and scores you enter.
Example
FHA home loan, 12 months out
- Target score
- 620
- Scores today
- Experian 598, Equifax 604, TransUnion 611
- Middle score
- 604, so 16 points to go
- Card A
- $2,700 owed on a $6,000 limit
- Card B
- $1,800 owed on a $4,000 limit
- Both cards
- $4,500 on $10,000, or 45%
- Every month until your final statementsPay down about $300 more than you spend. Twelve months of that takes $4,500 down to $900, which is 9% of your $10,000 in limits.
- Six months outNo new credit. Skip new cards, store financing and car loans until after you apply.
- 60 days outPull all three reports free at AnnualCreditReport.com and dispute anything wrong while there's still time for an answer.
- 30 days outConfirm your final statement dates and keep every card open.
- Your final statementsCard A closes at $540 or less (9% of $6,000) and Card B at $360 or less (9% of $4,000).
- Your dateApply after those statements report. The lender reads your middle score from all three bureaus.
Most of the plan is steady and ordinary. Timing is the part that slips: a card you pay in full on its due date can still report a high balance from its statement. Don't let one statement cost you the month the lender looks.
The date that decides what your card reports
Most people pay on the due date. Most card issuers report your balance around the statement closing date, and federal rules put that date at least 21 days earlier. Pay on the wrong one and a card you clear every month can still report a 40% balance.
40%
Paid in full on the due date. The statement still showed $4,000, so that is what reported.
5%
Paid down to $500 three days before the statement closed. Same money, same month.
Free tools that do the math
No account, no card, no pull on your credit. Each one shows its method, so you can check our work.
- Ready By plannerPick your loan and the date you want to apply. See the statements, balances and checkpoints to plan around.
- Score decoderType a score. See its band under each model, the next cutoff, and what it means for loans.
- Utilization plannerEnter your cards and see overall and per-card utilization, plus the exact payment to hit a target.
- Statement date plannerTurn each card’s closing date into a pay-by date, and add the reminders to your calendar.
- Middle score finderEnter three bureau scores for one or two borrowers and see the score a mortgage lender will use.
- Drop-off date calculatorFind the latest date a late payment, collection, or bankruptcy can stay on your reports.
- Inquiry age trackerSee when each hard inquiry stops counting in FICO scores and when it leaves your report.
- Letter builderWrite dispute, goodwill, validation and identity theft letters. Free, printed by you, sent by you.
- Score cost calculatorPut a dollar figure on the gap between your score and the next pricing band.
- Card payoff calculatorSee how long a balance takes to pay off and what the interest costs at any payment.
125 guides, written to be checked
Every guide answers the question in its first lines, shows the math, and lists the statutes, regulators and scoring companies behind each claim. Updated for the 2026 changes to mortgage scoring, medical debt and student loans.
- Credit scores, explainedRanges, models, versions, and why your three scores never match.14 guides
- Card balances and utilizationThe statement date, AZEO, limits, and how fast balances move a score.13 guides
- Payments and late paymentsWhen a late payment reports, how long it stays, and how to recover.12 guides
- Collections, charge-offs and medical debtPaying, settling, validating, and the 7-year clock.13 guides
- Credit reports and disputesReading your reports, disputing real errors, and what to do when they say "verified".13 guides
- Hard and soft inquiriesWhat a pull costs, how long it lasts, and how rate shopping works.10 guides
- Building credit from scratchSecured cards, builder loans, authorized users, rent and alternative data.12 guides
- Rebuilding after a setbackBankruptcy, foreclosure, repossession, settlement, and the waiting periods.10 guides
- Credit for big goalsMortgages, car loans, renting, insurance, and jobs.12 guides
- Managing cards and loansPayoffs, product changes, closures, limits, and divorce.8 guides
- Fraud and identity protectionFreezes, fraud alerts, identity theft blocks, and scams to avoid.8 guides
ScoreTuner Plus
Your plan, with an email before each step
The free planner shows you the plan. Plus keeps it: every month of it, rebuilt as your balances change, with an email before each step so the timing doesn't depend on your memory.
- Every month of your plan, built from the cards, scores and letters you save
- An email a few days before each statement closes with the amount to pay, flagged when it's the last statement before your date
- Emails when your no-new-credit window starts, at 60 and 30 days out, and when your date arrives
- Alerts when a late payment, collection or inquiry stops counting or leaves your reports
- A score log labeled by model and bureau, with a middle-score readout for home loans
- Letter tracking is free for every account. Plus adds the deadline emails.
$39per year
or $4.99 a month, which is $59.88 over a year. Cancel online any time, and email us within 14 days of a charge for a full refund of that charge.
See what Plus includesPlus is organizing and reminder software. It does not dispute anything for you or change your reports.
Things we won't do
Promise you points
FICO and VantageScore don't publish point tables. Anyone quoting an exact gain is guessing, and we'd rather show you the mechanism.
Charge you to dispute
Disputing a real error is your right under federal law and costs nothing. Our letter builder is free and you mail the letters yourself.
Make you call to cancel
Plus cancels from your account page. No phone tree, no retention script.
Sell what you type
The free tools run in your browser. We don't sell or rent personal data, and we don't ask for your Social Security number.
Questions people ask first
What is a Ready By plan?
It’s a month-by-month list built from the date you want to apply and the numbers you enter: the last statements that report before that date and the balance to aim for on each, a steady monthly paydown, a no-new-credit window, and checks at 60 and 30 days out. It never predicts a score.
What is the real range of a credit score?
The FICO scores most lenders use, and VantageScore 3.0 and 4.0, all run from 300 to 850. FICO’s auto and bankcard scores use a wider 250 to 900 scale, and Equifax’s own educational score starts at 280. No current consumer score starts at 350.
Is ScoreTuner a credit repair company?
No. We explain how scoring works and give you tools to plan and track your own steps. We never contact bureaus or creditors for you, and we never charge for disputes. Anyone can dispute a real error on their reports for free.
Do I need to give you my Social Security number or bank login?
No. The free tools run in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. A free account only needs an email address.
Will these tools raise my score?
Nothing honest can promise that. What the tools do is show you the mechanics, such as which date sets the balance a card reports, so the moves you make are the ones scoring models actually read.
Where do I get my actual credit reports?
AnnualCreditReport.com is the official site for free reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and you can check each one weekly at no cost.