Hi iamdetermined!   Student loans are one of the more difficult baddies to get removed. Student Loan servicers are notoriously hard nosed on removing ANY lates or missed payments. That being said, it would help to know who your student loan owner is. Someone on the forum may have a contact you could plead for mercy from.   As far a payments- student loan interest compounds. Quickly. And terribly. I would advise against making minimum payments only- this will solely go to interest and not principle which will only balloon your debt. Obviously if you can't pay more than the minimum, at least pay the min on time.   I will also say this- if you are in a position, depending on your credit score, you could refinance a gov't backed loan with a private loan financer like Credible. That could bring your interest rate down. OR, open a 0% CC and use that to pay off the loans. This will save you money on interest in the long run.   And you're not in it alone. I have 65K in Student Loan debt that I have been paying diligently for 10 years. And it never seems to make a dent. I am going to use th 0% CC tip I gave above as soon as I close on my house next month. :)   Hope this was helpful in some way! ... View more

Thank you! good advice.   Currently, my student loans are at 6.7% so it is KILLING me. I love the 0% CC idea.'   We are closing on my first house (thanks to the help on the forums) on May 31st. The month after, I am going to take you up on that idea. Financial Wellness 2017 and beyond! ... View more

Understood. I'm on a standard payment student loan repayment plan however. And after 10 years of paying I owe MORE today due to interest then I did 10 years ago. It's insane. ... View more

This does seem odd to me. I am also buying a home on the FHA program and was locked in this week at 3.8% with a 662 middle score.   I'm not sure how much credit factors into FHA but 5.25% does seem high. Perhaps shop lenders?   Good luck! ... View more

Thank you all for the answers. We actually went another route and looked in another county and found a home that meets the conventional limits for that county.   Made an offer this morning! Hope to hear back soon!   Cross your fingers for me please! :) ... View more

Thanks all. I will push for a preapp letter from my lender TODAY. I appreciate the insight. Thanks, Stephanie ... View more

The VS is Comenity and the Amazon is Synch..   The VS is  paid down to zero but the Synch is not... Maybe it's just a weird month. :)     ... View more

@BrutalBody Shots   Yes- I have one verified collection with EOS/CCA for $131 from 2014. I am going to offer PFD and hope that works.   I also have a Comcast collection for $411 that has not come back verified yet- but we are only about 17 days into the 30 day window so there is still time for that to come back verified. Which I would also then offer PFD and pray that works..   Other than that- I have 1 30 day late from 6 months ago And 2 30 days late from 4 years ago.   And that's it. I'm sure all of this impacts to some degree. Wish I had a magic ball to see the percentages! :) ... View more

You may be right! Thanks for the insight. I hadn't thought of that. :) ... View more

As a person (stepmom) who has spent the past 2.5 years in and out of court fighting for what should just be naturally given to fathers (50/50 custody) I can say this..   DO NOT PLAY FAST AND LOOSE WITH A VERBAL AGREEMENT.   Everything.. Down to pick up and drop off times needs to be written and signed off on by a judge.   Obviously, the hope is that at some point you would be friendly enough to not use the court ordered parenting agreement- but you absolutely have to have one to fall back on if things go south.   For example- we fought, and won 50/50 custody and had written into our agreement everything from number of days each parent had to notify the other before leaving state with child (for vacation,) to which parent gets to hold birthday party with classmates each year (alternate)   Obviously we were hoping it needn't be that granular, but the situation with bio-mom was such that it had to be done.   Now- everyone gets along famously. And we do things more on the fly. But that parenting agreement is filed, and in safe-keeping for if it ever is NOT hunky-dory again.   Child Support- as previous posters have mentioned- is pretty cut and dry. it's a math formula based on income and time spent with each parent.   My last word of advise- get 50/50 as quickly as you can on the books. Father's rights in this country are a joke- and if you agree to anything less, it will take you YEARS to make it to that 50/50. (we do a 5-2-2-5 schedule which is the preffered method in CO. 7 days on and 7 days off is more rare)   PM me if you have questions. we've been in and out of the wringer with this. ... View more

Here in Colorado it's exactly the same. Homes are being sold in a few hours SIGHT UNSEEN. And because we have legalizes marijuana, alot of homes are cash offers, at 40 and 50K above asking price from seller.   So clearly the seller is going with those.   The only way to get around that here is to build new construction.   I feel for you, it's a sense of loss even though you never had it. I wish you luck! :) ... View more

:) You all are so great with advice.   And I had a good chuckle at the money spent to pull 3B- because I'm right there with you.   My mortgage broker hardpulled for the first time yesterday and it was a day of majorly holding my breath. Now we see if we can get underwrite approval. For a new home build.   The next could of weeks are going to be stressful! :)   ... View more

I actually have the same question- my Fico scores went up 5 points in the last few days. But my Mortgage Scores did not go up..   Is this because I have to buy a new report? The MyFico site only reports the changes to Fico 8?   Just so I'm clear.   thanks, Stephanie ... View more

Thank you for the responses- yes on Feb 28 I will lower my utilization to below 30%... yay! That should push me over 620. Hopefully.. And DallasLoanGuy- that is great advice- and I was very upfront with the builder, and thankfully the sales rep has been super understanding and is actually calling around to see about this getting underwritten- knowing my score will raise in the next 30 days and beyond. Cross your fingers for me! Worst case scenario, I apply again in 30-45 days when my CS reflects better utilization. That would be a shame though- because like most house builders, my house will have gone up 6K in base price at that point. ... View more

Bump. ... View more

That's why I was mentioning my dillema to the sales rep before applying for pre-approval.   He mentioned he's seen worse than that get pre-approval.. That's why I figured I'd ask the experts here.   I was wondering if because the broker and underwriter are in same house if they had a little more flexibility in approving before te 9 month build.     ... View more

Hello gdale6 I apologize for posting twice. The first one went into the wrong area and was my mistake. It won't happen again. Thank you, Stephanie ... View more

Hi all, Wanted to quick update as I know there were one or two on the thread watching. After about 60 days of paying down- from 88% utilization to about 45% utilization overall- my credit score jumped 31 points yesterday!   I am not going to pull hard credit, as I am going to be able to pay below the 30% mark at the end of this month, but I'm hoping that after that I have a big enough bump to start looking for a home! Currently sitting at exactly 620 due to the 31 point bump.   Thanks for all the support and advice. Getting that UTI down certainly seems to be key. :) ... View more