Sillygirl wrote:
Just a temporary decrease so that the lenders would weigh my higher score more heavily. (He said they look at the score of the higher earner as the primary score.) So if my husband had lower income, and my scores were better, they would go by mine. Our income was within hundreds of dollars of each other and my husband is hourly while I am salary. A decrease in his overtime would knock him under my salary and then my scores would count more. Then we would pick our income back up once the deal was sealed. Just a temporary manipulation -- which I'm learning is how the credit game works a lot of times!
Gotcha. But IMHO, I don't think it's a great plan because (1) they may look at 2006 W4s or tax returns which will show he earned more; (2) as MidnightVoice pointed out, you may qualify for a smaller loan amount; (3) as MidnightVoice pointed out, you raise your DTI ratio; and (4) you lose income at a time when you definitely need it the most --- for downpayment, closing costs, moving costs, utility deposits, etc.
Better plan: work on getting both credit scores up. Good luck!
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Bartender, bring another round of FICOtinis please!
9.4.2011: TU 805. EQ 815.
