Consolodate Private Educational Loans

[Anonymous]

Another question for you all.....I am possibly looking at consolodating all of my private educational loans into one loan which will lower my payment, hence help my DTI before applying for a mortgage.  Question, does anyone know if this will help or hurt credit scores?  I know there will be an inquiry, and technically a new tradeline...but will it be a wash since I am getting rid of a ton of individual tradelines by consolodating?  Also, will the lender look poorly on this...me doing this right before applying for a mortgage?  We are doing a dirt start on a new home, so it will be technically 7-8 months from the time we officially close, but the lender (builder's preferred lender) does do a pre-approval or something like that when you sign the contract.  So, with that being said I am wondering if it would be okay to consolodate now and let the lender know since it will drop my DTI and perhaps in the next 6 months or so it would not even be an issue when we lock in for a interest rate.  Thoughts??

[DallasLoanGuy]

if your scores arent borderline, i wouldn't sweat it.

[Anonymous]

No, my mid is 720 and will probably go a little up because I just paid off all revolving debt.  I was just curious as to what everyone's thoughts are on my question.  I need to get my dti down a little to afford a higher price house.  Also, plan on putting down 15-20% down. 

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

Consolidating would be good for the debt to income ratio... however with 15-20% down and strong scores I think you'll find that a higher than normal debt to income ratio should qualify just fine.  I've seen debt ratios into the 60% range get approved with your stats.

Also keep in mind that your credit will need to be re-checked before you close, as credit reports are only good for up to 180 days on new construction (120 days on existing homes).