Adding my wife to my mortgage

[Anonymous]

Hello;

My wife has very poor credit (about 600 FICO score) and I'm debating whether or not to add her onto the mortgage on our house. I'm going to the bank thursday to refinance at a lower rate, and I'm thinking about adding her to it. What would happen if I did add her to the mortgage? Would my payments go up? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Tryon2improve]

Well typically they would take the lower middle score, so if you have 750 750 720, and she has 640,630, 620. Your mortgage will be based off of her 630 score. You would then be looking at 1.5-2% increase in APR due to her low score. Also if she has any debt that is large your DTI can be affected, there is also the case of having any unpaid judgements, liens, etc. they will require those to be paid off first.

[namvet]

You can refinance your mortgage and add your wife to the deed at closing.  That way she won't be part of the credit underwriting package.  That is assuming you qualify on your own income and credit.

[Booner72]

You can put her on the deed w/o her being on the loan, FYI.  "Quit claim" filed at the county clerk.

[StartingOver10]

What type of mortgage are you looking for in a refi - FHA or conventional?

Are your scores dramatically different?

If so, you may want to not include her in the loan until she improves her scores. Have the LO run the approvals with and without her. If you rate is higher with her, than don't include her on the refi.

Remember, your financial future is dependent upon all these decisions adding up. If she is worried about not being on the loan, then put her on the deed as suggested earlier.

[DallasLoanGuy]

CW

Have the loan officer run the scenario WITH her on the loan and WITHOUT.

then compare.

easily done.

[Anonymous]

I had him run it with her and me on it, and the rate would increase to about 8.9%. With just me on it, the rate would be 3.8%. And I signed the papers today, and I added her to the ded on the property. And another question, (If anyone reads this), We have a prenumptual aggreement, and by adding her to the deed, would that mess with the prenump? I already owned the house when we got married, so that shouldn't mess it up, right? I'm just clueless. Ha-Ha-Ha!

[drkaje]

Based upon my limited understanding; you just signed over half the house.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

We have a prenumptual aggreement, and by adding her to the deed, would that mess with the prenump? I already owned the house when we got married, so that shouldn't mess it up, right?

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This is going to depend upon the state you are in and the terms of the prenup. However, if I were your wife during a divorce, I'd argue that even though you already had a prenup you added me to the house deed during the marriage after the prenup was signed, some ownership interest in the house was a gift to me (since you really had no other reason to add wife to the deed except wanting her to own part of the house). As a general rule (without providing legal advice) in a community property state, separately owned property can remain separate if you keep it separate (e.g don't add it to a joint account). Now, you have a house that is in both names, and you are using community property (presumably, your salary) to pay the mortgage, you might have a hard time claiming the entire house is yours in a divorce. If you really want a proper answer, you'd be better off speaking to a lawyer in your state.

[drkaje]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

We have a prenumptual aggreement, and by adding her to the deed, would that mess with the prenump? I already owned the house when we got married, so that shouldn't mess it up, right?

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This is going to depend upon the state you are in and the terms of the prenup. However, if I were your wife during a divorce, I'd argue that even though you already had a prenup you added me to the house deed during the marriage after the prenup was signed, some ownership interest in the house was a gift to me (since you really had no other reason to add wife to the deed except wanting her to own part of the house). As a general rule (without providing legal advice) in a community property state, separately owned property can remain separate if you keep it separate (e.g don't add it to a joint account). Now, you have a house that is in both names, and you are using community property (presumably, your salary) to pay the mortgage, you might have a hard time claiming the entire house is yours in a divorce. If you really want a proper answer, you'd be better off speaking to a lawyer in your state.

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I would have spoken to the lawyer first, LOL!