Hi,
I appreciate any and all answers here...
About 7 years ago, I was living at home, making minimal money and was still responsible about credit. However, my father (now deceased) opened a couple of credit card accounts in my name and defaulted on them. I was reluctant to do anything about it back then, as I had no idea how the system worked, and felt responsible for the debts. I partially paid these, but not 100%, more like 40%.
In the meantime, I had 2 judgments associated with me, although they were definitely not mine. Trans-Union and Equifax agreed to remove them, as they determined that these were NOT MINE. Experian refuses to even investigate my disputes. Each time I send a dispute, they send me a letter claiming they received the dispute, but they do not believe that it was coming from me, so that to PROTECT ME, they refuse to investigate. GGGRRRR!!!! I have no idea how Experian thinks that a mystery person is disputing inaccurate information on MY credit report. If this keeps me from getting credit I WILL SUE!
This all happened in 2000-2001. I now have an $85k per year job, and have been paying cash for the last five years for everything. The one exception to this was for bills incurred as the result of an EIGHT WEEK HOSPITAL STAY. I had an infection that was very bad (MRSA) and listened to the advice to stay even though I felt OK. I have Blue Cross, and was responsible for only $2k in deductibles. I paid that, but was overwhelmed with invoices, bills and "billing notifications" that advised I should not pay the charge as it was submitted to my insurance company.
Most of those were easily taken care of, but there are a couple of collection accounts lingering. Specifically, 4 accounts for under $1k.
By not using credit, I have not done myself any favors.
In any event, my FICO scores are EXP-566 EFX-588 and nothing available on TU.
I saw a house I liked in Lake Station, Indiana (40 minutes from Chicago) for $69,900.
This is cheap, but I just LOVE the AREA!
In my favor, I have...
1) $54,000 in my 401k
2) $5,000 in my brokerage account
3) $3,000 in my savings account
4) $2,200 in checking, although that will go out for bills
5) I have a 20% down-payment available in addition to the above.
The resulting mortgage at 6.25% wold be $350 or so per month, which is HALF of what I currently pay for rent.
I would be trying to get a 15 or 30 year fixed rate mortgage.
Would I qualify???
Any thoughts appreciated!
Thanks,
Jeff