My jouney!
I wanted to let you all know that it is possible. I have come along way and want you all to know to keep pushing because you too could be in your house sooner than you think.
First off I made A LOT of mistakes when I was younger. I had several credit cards go into collection to then settle with them and then charge them up and let them go back into collections to continue haunting me. Not a good thing obviously but it is what it is. I went about 5 years not really caring about it. I lived on cash alone and went back to school adding another 9K to my debt in Student Loans. Which once I graduated I decided to also ignore…
Fast forward to March of 2012, I wanted new furniture! Of course I was denied with a since of laughter for even applying for financing. But Rooms To Go had a program set up with Rent A Center to be able to finance me so I went for it. Yes it cost me more money in the long run but it was to report on my credit file and I knew that would be good. Then in July I decided I was going to need a new car, I could get approved with an outrageous interest rate so I decided to ask my mother to co-sign with me to help me out. But the good thing here was I was building more credit…Then in October I got threating calls from a collection company for the Department of Education. They had gone through my HR department and was ready to start garnishing my wages!!! However they told me I could Rehab my student loans and all would go away, everything bad would disappear, I could get loans again and I would be much happier after 9 months. So I decided that was the best bet because I need to get my act in gear! So October was month 1 of 9 for my rehab program.
Then in November an opportunity arrived. A friend was getting married and was selling their house and would love to sell it to me. At first I thought there is no way I could get a mortgage, my credit is in the dumps and there’s where it was meant to stay. I believed that I would always be told no, that’s just the way it goes for me. Trying to be optimistic I thought, you know I have until June for my friend to sale the house so lets just see what I can do. I called a local housing authority who helps individuals identify problems with their credit and then help coach them to fixing the mistakes, I made my first appointment for early January.
It was the month of December where I found this wonderful vast land of knowledge known to us as Fico Forums! I started reading EVERYTHING on here that I could, by the time I got to my first appointment with the credit counselor I had already applied for my Capital One Secured Card and had a game plan once I knew exactly what was ruining my credit score. At my first meeting with the credit counselor I learned that my scores where in the low to mid 500s. I thought WOW, I have a long ways to go. I immediately wrote some DVs and some PFDs. Neither of which worked in my case. Come February I learned of the GREAT Navy Federal Credit Union. I applied for a credit card and was approved for the most amount I had ever been approved for ($6000). I was delighted and immediately switched from using my debt card for every day purchases and started using this card, letting it report as close to the 9% range as possible.
Between February and March I paid off three major creditors by settling for less than 50% of the debt. I had another creditor (whom I actually work for) remove 23 different derogatory marks (all under $25). I continued to pay my student loan rehab and was saving money from day one! Come April I had another appointment with the credit counselor and this time my scores were looking better! I was in the high 500s and even had one score at an even 600! I felt empowered, I felt responsible, I felt like an adult. I called the collection company for my student loans in April and worked with them to bump up my last two payment for my rehab program so that I could finish as early as possible. I was very opptomistic at this point.
Fast-forward just a bit to May, just last month I began to realize that I really needed to get an FHA case number before June 1st in order to not have the extra hassle of the new regulations so I decided to contact a mortgage company…
I had done my research on this and learned a lot here on the forums about FGMC, they had documentation on their website that stated that they approve individuals with as low as 580 middle score so I thought maybe I just explain to them my situation and see what they say. I simply did a “Contact Us” on their website and within an hour I had an email with a phone number to call for a loan officer. I called and spilled the beans. I explained everything about my history and specifically my student loan issue. I also explained that I truly just wanted and FHA case number since they can last up to 6 months. My loan officer told me that I could more than likely get approved with my current score being over 580 and that I should go ahead and apply.
After thinking about it I decided to bite the bullet and see what happens. I applied the next day and got an conditional approval within 24 hours. I WAS FLOORED!!! Really, a house, for me? I had a lot of LOE to fill out and FGMC wants a lot of documentation but I jumped through every hoop. But of course the last condition was my student loans. When my LO looked at the credit report she found out that I wasn’t in default but I was in deed in collections and of course I couldn’t do anything with that current collection account. I made my 8th payment on May 3rd and my 9th on May 24th. I then began to call the collection company and DOE about 3 times a week! I went crazy working them to get everything updated and pulled out of collections! I never gave up, I kept calling. Within 2-3 weeks after lots of bugging and taking very good notes I had gotten both of my student loans picked up by Nelnet. I sent in my documentation and the condition was cleared!
FGMC worked with me further to have their credit report cleared as far as the collection status by calling the collection company and verifying that they no longer have the debt and that I had successfully rehabbed my loans. The entire process was stressful but it was not what I had expected as to what other stories you here on here. My LO and Loan processer were amazing! There never went a single day that I didn’t hear from them if I had asked something of them. We communicated several times a day and she never once made me seem like my questions were trivial or stupid.
I am actually about 45 minutes out right now from going and closing on the property but I wanted to share my story and to tell everyone that you can do it, you can have the things you want, and you will succeeded. Believe in yourself and work the system and of course have a little patience.
If anyone would like the contact info for my Loan Officer please feel free to PM me. Just so everyone knows my current credit scores are TU 615, EX 600, EQ 581. FGMC can make it happen, they can make your dreams come true.
Sorry so long, I just wanted to tell the whole story.
Ry
PresP
2/6/15: Credit Karma: 626
4/23/13: TU 615, EX 600, EQ 581
1/16/13: TU 585, EX 525, EQ 514
Goal: Purchase Second Home ASAP
Cards: Cap1 Secured - $300; Authorized User on Chase Card: $5500.
Starting Score: 03/29/2013 540 EQ 05/01/2013 614 TU 05/30/2013 606 EX (Lender Pull)
They were pleasant and knowledgeable and I heard about them from these very message boards. I couldn't be happier! If anyone is in California and wants my loan officer's name, feel free to message me. When i contacted them, i would get responses back very quickly,often within the hour. Yes, they wanted a lot of documentation, but that's normal. My loan officer and loan processor worked very nicely together, too. I was able to get an interest rate of 3.25 with $4,200.00 cash back. If you're mortgage shopping, give FGMC a call!!
