For anyone wondering or for future reference since I answered my own question, my LO put a rush on it with the appraiser, which costs extra but she said she felt they should pay for it, but it doesn't guarantee the result we need. Just have to wait and see if they honor it or not. Hopefully, they do! It's difficult lining up movers and places to stay with the Covid 19 situation. Very unfortunate time to be having to move.  ... View more

As usual, all my anxiety and worry was for naught, I got my mortgage approval and just had to submit a few LOE's for things related to HOA dues and a couple of letters from my soon to be ex-husband on some things. Thank you everyone for the replies! Appreciate this board and forums, it really helped me through purchasing my first home 11 years ago and now again! :)  ... View more

@VALoanMaster wrote: @Mizsass wrote: Hi,   In 2008 my soon to be ex-husband and I were approved for an FHA loan on the home I currently live in, which is under contract to sell - pending inspection/appraisal.   I applied for a new FHA mortgage and am under contract for a new home. I've sent the lender all of the documents requested so far - letter from employer stating I'll remain employed in same role after moving to new state, W2s, bank statements, drivers license, signed contract and net sheet for my current house sale, etc.    The loan officer sent me e-docs to sign including the 4506-T forms to pull 3 years of 1040's (2016, 2017, 2018). My main source of income is as a W2 employee of a business I have no ownership in (day job). I did have some schedule C losses the past couple of years due to some self-publishing work I was attempting as a side gig. I narrated some audiobooks, and have written 4 novels in two series I was gearing up to publish at the end of last year/beginning of this year). Unfortunately, due to a bad situation leading to getting divorced and some accidents I was personally injured in I didn't get enough done to have positive income from that endeavor. Now I'm worried this is going to cause me issues getting approved for my loan.   My DTI is around 35% (estimate) and I have plenty of assets for my downpayment/closing and reserves. My mid-score was 637 at the time it was pulled, I paid down a lot of my credit cards and got an old collection removed so it is continuing to rise.    How worried should I be? I'm hard wired as a major worrier with high anxiety anyway.  Hi Mizsass, How much did you claim in schedule C losses on your taxes? Those losses can reduce the amount of W-2 income a lender can use so you're right to be concerned about it. The good news is not all lenders will require tax returns/transcripts for the last 2 years let alone 3 years! I just saved a deal for a builder due to the same issue.  The first year it was $5k, I had some investment, conf fee and professional organization fees, second year $3k for various expenses (conference fees, professional org fees, etc). For my application I only claimed my base salary of 120k and that's what my DTI was calculated off of, but my W2's will show that I get an annual bonus of 20% every year, which my loan officer is aware of. So I think it will be okay, I just was reading other posts about it and had a moment of panic. I do have time to change lenders if necessary. Thank you for the input.  ... View more

@Mortgage-Specialist wrote: You mentioned you have low debt ratio, large amount of assets and you've already been pre approved.    What would you be worrying about?  I don't even know! I've just had such a bad past year and selling our house has been stressful, I guess I'm just letting anxiety get the best of me. My loan moved to undewriting today and I have plenty of time to close so will see what happens. It's kind of scary and empowering all at once doing this all by myself.  ... View more

Here was my experience, I had a judgment from 2002 for an unpaid gym membership. I had moved, and cancelled my membership per an out of state relocation clause, but they never closed the account and got a default judgment in 2003.   Last year I was trying to buy a house, and I had to settle the judgment. I got the creditor to agree to a settlement amount, and I paid it in full, got everything in writing, and the receipt. Provided that to the mortgage company and everything went through.   I was looking at my credit reports this past spring of 2009 and noticed this judgment had not been updated. I contacted the creditor and they were giving me a run around, so I sent all of the documentation into the credit bureaus, along with the agreement signed by the creditor. The CRA's removed it from my report.   Not sure if this helps you or not, but I just sent in all of my documentation and a letter explaining what I was asking for. Thanks, ... View more

Nice! Our loan officer called about 30 minutes ago as well to tell me the rate had dropped to 5.5% with no points and we locked in as well :) ... View more

Hi Dallas,   Basically, the home was his father's, and before he passed away he had a life estate created so that his significant other could reside in the home. My fiance is listed as the remainderman on the paperwork and the deed is in both of their names.   As long as she is alive and resides there she is responsible for taxes and upkeep on the home, and may not let it go to waste. Neither she nor the remainderman can take anything like a home equity loan against the property until she either dies or chooses to vacate the property. She has the right to profit of the property but the principal interest belongs to the remainderman from what research I've read.   I guess it falls more into the realm of assets than debt from what I've read tonight. States have tables to determine by age the interest in the estate of the "life tenant" and the remainder interest. Its been very educational reading I suppose.   Our loan officer was concerned since the tax bill has his name on it, but I'm thinking as long as we have the life estate paperwork that should suffice to prove this is not a current debt. And possible future debt does not count against you? Our loan officer said we should go ahead and list it as its easier to take items off than add to our file?   We are in Florida. Thanks!     ... View more

Thanks Dallas, maybe that is why she is not so worried about it then, I provided her with a complete financial history of the account that the DoE was kind enough to fax and email me. I'll give them a call on Monday and see if I am eligible to rehab my loan. I've actually been paying $100 out of my paycheck every two weeks towards paying it off. I'll post all of the final results of this experience when we're all through! As always, appreciate your response. ... View more

Hello Dallas Loan Guy and others! Here is where I am in this process: If I get my midscore up by 20 points minimum - we can qualify for a conventional loan, but the interest rate would probably be around 7 to 7.25%. Our broker has written everything up for an FHA loan, with 3.5% down and our interest rate would be around 6.5% currently. Here's the deal - I told her I had defaulted student loans - she asked if I was paying on them, and I said yes, I've been voluntarily paying on them since January 2008. I told her it wasn't a formal payment plan, but she said if I was paying on them they should be fine. I really disagree with her on this one. She has been great to work with by the way, and says all she has been writing are FHA loans. I only owe 2,200 on these two loans combined. I'm thinking I just need to call Tuesday morning and pay them off. From my interpretation of the FHA requirements if I pay the loans in full, whether out of my pocket or with another loan I can get an FHA loan. Its just if I defaulted in the last 3 years on an FHA mortgage that I couldn't. Am I interpreting that correctly? Also stated on www.ed.gov " "I'm applying for a HUD (FHA) or VA loan and I don't qualify because of my defaulted student loan." * Your options for reinstating your eligibility to receive a HUD (FHA) or VA loan are: repay or satisfy the loan in full; consolidate your loan through the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loan consolidation program or the William D. Ford Direct Loan Program (Direct Loan Program); or rehabilitate your loan through our loan rehabilitation program. Since defaulted student loans have no statute of limitations for enforceability, you would remain ineligible to receive a HUD or VA loan until you complete one of the options mentioned above." Should I just pay this and let her know I paid it in full? ... View more

Thanks! I have a couple of other lines of credit I didn't list because they are paid to 0, so its not quite as bad is it looks, although still not great. I appreciate that advice! I have two other cards whose credit lines equal out to $500, and I forgot about a crown jeweler line of credit for $2500. But of course that only shows on two reports, since they don't report to EQ anymore. Have a great weekend! ... View more

Hi DLG, I am back! I hope this will be a quick question but I know I can be long winded. My fiance really wants to buy a bigger home, and rent out our current one. We found a home, its a short sale (as almost everything in Central Florida is these days), and a suitable offer would be 305k. His credit is sterling, he also has around 180k in investments (used to be a bit over 200k but the market has not been kind), 50k in 401k fully vested, own two other properties that are paid in full, plus has the mortgage on our current home. Other than our mortgage payment, he has no debt... his credit cards are at less than 10%. I have around 10k in 401k, I'm only partially vested. I have a $496/month car payment and my credit cards are around 40% right now, which I can pay down maybe 20% more at the moment. I have a whole life insurance policy that is around 13 years old but I need to call to get a statement of the account. He is dead set on an 80/20 conventional loan, which is what our friends got last fall, but I know that my scores and file are not close to qualifying for that. You had suggested we work with a mortgage broker. I started researching licensed brokers in our state that are local and contacted a couple of them, who thought they could get us approved for something. Tonight, while talking to our realtor, she asked if we could get her a prequalify letter in the next two days, and I said we could talk to the broker in the morning who we were leaning toward. She asked if we had a good relationship with the person because it would be important in moving quickly on a loan approval, and I said no, but I had been researching. She recommended a person who works with National City Mortgage. I came home and looked NCM up online, and I am thinking this is a direct lender and not a broker? I'm really confused. Our realtor came highly recommdended from several people in our community that are trustworthy in my opinion. Your thoughts? Message Edited by Mizsass on 08-26-2008 08:45 PM Message Edited by Mizsass on 08-26-2008 08:46 PM ... View more

Hi DLG,    Yes we have 3 to 5% of a downpayment.   I have no issues paying the judgment, as its only for $500. But I'm trying to get it removed from my credit report altogether, because the attorney used a bogus address to have the papers served, so I never received them. Its for an old gym membership that I had requested in writing to cancel due to relocating for a job out of state. I'm sending written communication to the attorney to try to secure a vacate of the judgement for payment in full. If he won't, I'll just pay it.   Thanks for your response!     ... View more

I got this card in November of 2006... my scores were probably in the upper 500's at that time. It went unsecured 11 months later. Then the card became the Emerging Credit Platinum Visa earlier this year and I couldn't get auto CLI's. Yesterday I called the backdoor number and got a cli to 1,000. I intend on calling back in a month or two for another CLI.   Its been a good card, and my APR has dropped quite a bit in the past year.   Thanks! ... View more

Wow, congrats. I started with the secured card, it became unsecured in November 2007, then it changed from Platinum Plus to Emerging... I have requested CLI once by phone, twice by the button and keep getting denied. I just checked and mine does not say emerging anymore either, so I think I'll try to give them a call. Did you use a backdoor number? Thanks! ... View more

I received a fully secured BoA card in November of 2006. It was graduated to unsecured in November of 2007. It was then changed to Emerging Credit product around March of 2008. I'm not sure I believe that a clock starts ticking when they changed the product name. I requested a CLI when the card graduated to unsecured and was denied. Now that we're hitting the 6 month mark I'm requesting again. GL. ... View more