How many CC's does one need for a new mortgage?

[pizza1]

Hello all....

just curious, Ive heard conflicting reports and just not sure! But, I'm in the rebuilding stages now, but plan on apping for my first mortgage ever in 2 yrs, so I'm being proactive! 

How many CC's do the mortgage lenders like to see when apping? I've heard minimum 3, but want 5-6?

thoughts from anyone appreciated! Thanks

[Blackrv7]

I just had a talk two days ago with a mortgage banker about trade lines.  He told me they want to see trade lines and how you manage those lines. 

He called someone with only one cc a "ghost" even if they had a good score, the bank was not willing to mortgage them and assume a rick without some kind of recorded history. 

For fico, when I only had two cc reporting, I was dinged on EX for a thin file even though I had car loans, etc going back to the 10 drop off.  I'm sure more experienced people than me will chime in but I'd think 3-5 would be fine.

[pizza1]

Blackrv7.... Thank you for your input! When I app for my 1st mortgage ever which will be in 2 yrs I will have the following positive tradelines reporting :

4- cc's
2- federal school loans
1- car loan

Surely that's enough.... Right??? Lol!!!!

[Blackrv7]

Personally I think that would be fine.  As the banker relayed to me, they want to see a history of responsible credit management.  Funny thing about my conversation with him, when it became obvious I knew something about fico scoring he relayed to me his cc file and how he could improve his score

I think you're fine with that.

[Burned2manybridgesB4]

Ideally, you want three tradelines. More mixed, the better...one cc/loan/store card.

*edit: the amount you're talking about is fine, but the amount of debt that affects you on the "back end."

[takeshi74]

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@pizza1 wrote:

How many CC's do the mortgage lenders like to see when apping? I've heard minimum 3, but want 5-6?

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Underwriting criteria vary by creditor.  Talk to mortgage reps at the places you'll be considering and ask them directly what they want to see.  We can generalize but you're just to get the same info you've already seen (i.e. 3+).  In general with credit more accounts and more variety of types of accounts responsibly kept in good standing are indicators of responsbility.

[pizza1]

Burnedtomanybridgesb4 and takeshi74......

Thank you for your input!!! I'm hoping to have NFCU do the lending, I believe the do all their own underwriting, and hoping for FHA or 100% home buyers from them. Hopefully my scores in two years will be 675 across the boards

[Swapmeet]

When I got my first mortgage, I had two secured cc with no more than 300 limits. That was in 2006 though, so take it with a grain of salt...

[user5387]

Several comments.

1.  There's a distinction between (a) optimizing score, and (b) what underwriters like to see for manual review.

2.  For score optimization, you can do a Google search and find lots of answers, typically centering around 2-4 cards.  This issue is really driven by other factors, for example the number of cards with balances reporting, the overall utilization, the AAoA, and so on.

3.  If I was interested in optimizing my score, then I would get at least three cards, and then focus on these other factors.  There are lots of older threads on this forum that have really valuable information about this, for example the characteristics of FICO high achievers.

4. The issues around manual review are quite subjective.  For example, suppose that you optimize your score, and your cards are exclusively from First Premier.  You might have a problem with manual review.

If I decided to shoot for a mortgage at some future point, I'd take a step back and consider the larger picture of all these factors.

[jonmyers]

My personal experience from a few years ago: I had only two active tradelines and a FICO of 666 when I purchased our house in 2009.  A year later, when my mortgage changed, my banker told me that I would not have been able to buy the same house if I was purchasing at the time of change; they now require a minimum of three tradelines and a FICO of 700.