<prompt> Human: Hi all,My wife and I are looking into building a new home. Currently renting, but have had two mortgages in the past with zero late payments. Score is terrible due to high balance to limits and a few 30 day lates. We would be looking at putting earnest money down in April, and should have ALL of our card balances at zero by then. Most of my cards are in a debt management program and are currently closed, even though they report as being open. Heres what Im looking at:Please note - this is NOT one of those things where they dont pay your cards and then settle the debt. This is a non-profit that negotiates a lower interest rate, I pay them, and then they pay my credit cards every month. Once I get the cars outside the program paid off approx 2 months, I will start sending them an extra 2-3k per month to bring those balances down.In Debt Management:Barclays - Limit 5000 - Balance 4433 - Reported as open, current, no latesCapOne - Limit 10000 - Balance 9800 - Reported as open, current, no latesCBNA - Limit 500 - Balance 373 - Reported as open, current, no latesCiti - Limit 3300 - Balance 3200 - Reported as open, current, no latesCiti - Limit 1200 - Balance 1100 - Reported as open, current, no latesSynchronyWalmart - Limit 2500 - Balance 2300 - reported as open, current, no latesNot in debt management:Chase - Limit 4000 - Balance 3900 - Reported as open, current, no latesWells Fargo - Limit 4000 - Balance 3500 - reported as open, current, no latesI have a paid home equity loan from out last house, with two 30 day lates in Jan and Jun 2016. This loan was paid in full when we sold our house in Jun 2016.I also have an auto loan that was paid in full as the result of a total loss. Car accident happened in Oct 2016, but they didnt get paid by insurance until March of 2017, so they have me marked as late 90 days, and late between Nov 16 - Mar 17.Auto Loans:CarmaxAF - Balance 16k - current, no lates, opened May 2015Mechanics Bank - Balance 11.5k - current, no lates, opened Nov 2016Student loan balance - 81k - Im in grad school and not currently paying on theseMy thinking is to get all the credit cards paid off including the ones in debt management program, which should be done by April. Then I would put earnest money down on the house, which has a 10 month build time. During that 10 months I would save up for the down payment. Is there a different way I should approach this? Is there any benefit to getting a credit builder loan Ive read about these from BMO harris, etc or should I not try to open any new accounts? I would really like to try to get my credit up to 739 by our close date Approx Feb 2019 so I can do a one time PMI premium instead of the monthly payments. Are those late payments to the home equity and auto loan going to totally screw me?Thanks in advance for any advice you have.EDIT: Thank you all for the slap in the face. My wife and I have removed a new house from our goals. For now our goal is to get all the credit cards paid off and then not using them and see where that gets us. Additionally, were going to rent another year to save up a huge down payment. Hopefully the extra year will allow some time for my credit score to recover.  <response>: You should pay off your debt as if your head was on fire. Seriously. You are kneedeep in shit.If you get your utilization down to 30 you will see the credit score increase that you want to see. 