I got the middle score up to over 620, and there's still one pending CA removal...plus every month the credit card reports low util should help.
We are going to apply for the USDA direct loan. I am working on the app, I just need to get all the supporting documents and hang tight for another couple weeks til the CA updates to the CRA's that the last collection is deleted.
We also have a mortgage broker to potentially go FHA since the USDA limits us to only certain towns (and not the one where we currently live) which means I need to do two more hard pulls 
to get pre approved for both.
The mortgage broker is a friend of ours. Would you have him pull first to make SURE the scores are where they need to be and then send in the USDA app? or do the USDA app first because that's *probably* the most desireable alternative for us and only have the broker pull if we decide not to go USDA (or can't)?
I've heard the USDA only pulls once, so at least that's a plus...
@Familywantsahouse wrote:I got the middle score up to over 620, and there's still one pending CA removal...plus every month the credit card reports low util should help.
We are going to apply for the USDA direct loan. I am working on the app, I just need to get all the supporting documents and hang tight for another couple weeks til the CA updates to the CRA's that the last collection is deleted.
We also have a mortgage broker to potentially go FHA since the USDA limits us to only certain towns (and not the one where we currently live) which means I need to do two more hard pulls
The mortgage broker is a friend of ours. Would you have him pull first to make SURE the scores are where they need to be and then send in the USDA app? or do the USDA app first because that's *probably* the most desireable alternative for us and only have the broker pull if we decide not to go USDA (or can't)?
I've heard the USDA only pulls once, so at least that's a plus...
Don't worry about the inquiries associated with your mortgage application, but make sure that the FHA and USDA inquiries are done within a relatively short period of time (i.e. within 2 weeks, to be really safe).
Mortgage inquiries that occur within a certain window are scored as a single inquiry. So, if you apply at 37 different lenders today and each runs an inquiry, the FICO score formula will count that as just one inquiry. Thus, you're not penalized for shopping around for the best rates.
The inquiry window varies with the score formula. For the newer versions of FICO - Equifax and TU 04 - you have a 45 day period in which the inquiries will be de-duplicated. For the older versions - TU 98 and Experian's v2, which I believe is still the EX version that is most widely used - this window is just 14 days.
In addition, mortgage inquiries are suppressed from scoring for 30 days - that is, if the USDA lender pulls your scores today and the FHA lender pulls your scores tomorrow, your FICO score will not suffer because of the USDA inquiry. The inquiry WILL still appear on your report, but it will have no effect on your score. This prevents the "first hit" effect when applying for mortgages.