How does a mortgage impact credit?

[Anonymous]

I have a question regarding mortgages and credit.

My husband and I are separated.  I pay all of the house payments ($2,500 per month) and my own bills.  I make half as much as he does.  However, I can get a car loan, personal loan, credit card, etc. without any problem at very low rates.  I don't have any car payments, and a credit card with a $10,000 balance.

He cannot seem to get decent credit.  Understand that he has a $52,000 vehicle loan, and a Visa with a $56,000 balance. 

His FICO is 670, mine is 740.

He tells me that he cannot get credit because of the mortgage.  I tell him the mortgage shows stability, but his high debt on the credit card, as well as a large auto loan is hurting him.  He also has a paid reposession on his record from 2-3 years ago.

He is blaming me for his credit difficulties, which of course I believe is not true.  He is trying to force me to sell the house to get the loan out of his name.  I told him his score will be worse as his only credit will be a car and visa with huge balances.

I realize the mortgage will show on both of our credit reports, even though I am making all of the payments.  I don't want to refinance for two reasons.  1.  Underwriting has tightened up, and I doubt I could qualify for a loan in the current market (even though I qualifed previously on my own).  2.  I may sell within the next 2 years, so refinancing would cost too much.

Interesting to note that we both bank at the same well respected institution, yet I have a number of pre-approved offers from them, yet he has none nor will they give him any when he speaks to the loan representatives.

My thought is that this has solely to do with his huge amount of outstanding debt and the reposession, not the mortgage as he is telling me.  He tells me consistently the mortgage is what is keeping him from getting credit.  I strongly disagree.

Any thoughts from anyone?

[haulingthescoreup]

You are absolutely correct. It's his util, not the mortgage. A mortgage is positive for your scores, as long as you make the payments on time. It indicates stability. And even though the util on installment is looked at, it barely influences your scores.

I don't know if you know the credit limit on his Visa, but util is determined by dividing the outstanding balance ($56K) by the credit limit. Anything at 85% or 90% is considered maxed out. He might even have one of those cards that don't report a CL, and if it's coded wrong, he will look like he's at 100% util every single month.

Don't let him bully you around. He needs to learn about how credit really works. Here's a thread that describes common characteristics of people with good credit. You seem to fit it a lot more closely than he:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=12673

Moving to General Credit Issues, as this is more about, well, general credit issues than about mortgages.