My husband and I are in the process of trying to purchase a new home (to be built) in Texas, it will be our first home. We were pre-approved with Bank of America for an FHA loan last week. However, when I spoke with our LO yesterday he informed me that as of Monday they are tightening the DTI to 25% for FHA loans with a FICO below 620. All we need is a pre-approval letter and earnest money to move forward with building, which we have. My concern is that if my FICO scores are not in the 620-640 6 months from now when it is time to close that we will lose the earnest money. I would like to have a back-up lender in place just in case my scores have not come up. My husbands scores are mid-high 600s and we just purchased a new car in October (currently only one payment reported), so he should get a few more points as the trade line matures. My FICO scores (mortgage lender pull) are 616 EX, 603 EQ, 602 TU. I have a couple collections that should be removed by January, I listed the negatives that will still be listed then below (still working to get some removed)*. Any lender suggestions or advice is appreciated!
Negatives (all collection balances are $0):
AT&T U-verse (Afni)* $669 - Assigned 01/12
Sprint (Enhanced Recovery) $186 - Assigned 05/09
Gables (Hunter Warfield) $331 - Assigned 10/10
Community College (National Credit Management) $282 - Assigned 09/11
Nelnet (Un-Sub, Closed) - 90DL 01/12
Nelnet (Sub, Closed) - 90DL 01/12
Comenity Bank (Closed) - 30DL 12/06, 30DL 01/07
Comenity Bank (Closed) - 30DL 11/10, 30DL 02/11
BOA (Closed) - 30DL 08/10, 30DL 04/11
Starting Score: 534 (10.30.12)