Possible to get a mortgage

[Anonymous]

Hi, the wife and I have just decided we'd like to purchase a house. I have pretty bad credit and would like to fix it as much as possible so we can buy something in about 6 months. I purchased a TrueCredit account today and my scores range from 510-530. I am making really good money now and would like to begin fixing my credit. I'm planning to try and do as many PFDs as possible for my debts. My question is: How likely do you think it is that I can rebuild my credit within 6 months so I can get a good rate on a mortgage? Also, should I be doing other things in the meantime to build my credit like getting a new credit card or buying a car? I haven't really had any credit in the last couple years, everything is paid for in cash/debit now. Looking forward to your help and be prepared, I will have a ton of questions over the next couple months as I head down the path to credit recovery. TIA!

[ronq]

I would get your FICO scores first. I know in my experience my TC were actually lower than my FICOs. Look at the score analysis and see what the biggest negative is. I would try for a mortgage until you are least in the high 600s. I was in the low 600s a year ago and looked for a mortgage and it's really expensive. I have had a mortgage before and you want the best rate you can get. The score analysis will help you with the most negative factors. I would purchase all 3 so you can compare what is on each. They will not all be exactly the same because some place may only report to one or 2 of the 3. It's worth the $40 to get all 3 since you are starting to work on it. Goggle myFICO discounts to save a little money on your reports.

[sl]

How many baddies do you have on your report?

If you have unpaid collections, send them a PFD letter and don't pay them until they agree to delete the TL after you pay.

Send GW letters to all people you were late with and ask them if they will remove the lates from your report.

Get your utilization down to below 10%.

From what I am reading on the e-news and hearing on the news, it is becoming more and more difficult to get a mortgage with the current housing mess and subprime lenders.  You may want to focus on bringing your scores up and saving for a good downpayment before jumping into the market.  I am sure that is not what you wanted to hear but it is hard to get a mortgage these days with a score lower than 620 and I am hearing 640 is the new marking point. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the responses, much appreciated. I have between 7-10 baddies. From what I can tell most of them are chargeoffs or unpaid debts. So I plan to do PFDs on all of those asap. I also have a few other issues like multiple CAs on 1 unpaid debt and some other tricky stuff. But as I get to those I will open new threads on the issues. I am not sure if it's likely to hit 640 but I plan to settle everything within the next couple months. I will also have enough for 20%+ down on the house in 6mos. If that info helps. If I' not able to get in the house I will just keep on trucking until I can.

[Anonymous]

I would check all the info on the neg. items, and if anything is incorrect dispute the TL with all three CRA. It is possible the incorrect TL will be deleted. Then use PFD on collections etc...

Others and myself have had luck with paying the small debts to the OC and then diputing the debt with the CRA. Thats if the PFD doesn't work or you paid a debt before knowing about PFD.

Good Luck!