My credit journey has been a whirlwind to say the least!
Im a 30 year old guy with tons of student loan debt and credit debt that went off the rails when the recession made it impossible for me to get a job. Fast forward a few years and with the help of these forums I went from low 500s to over 700 for my FICO score. Mortgage score was another story... My partner and I decided to buy a home a few months back. We had about a year left in our lease so we had time. We looked at areas we liked and the types of homes in those areas just to familiarize ourselves with what we could expect. Since we had time we decided to look at new build communities as well.
We fell in love with a new build. After speaking to the salesman and looked at the options we decided to do the prequalification. The next day, I was told I did not qualify as my FICO score was 527. I thought to myself **bleep**!?!?? But, they said my partner qualified. So we said fine. I wrote the check. I felt bad... in the pits.. just wrote a huge check for a house I wouldnt have any ownership in. That day (Sept 1st) I went to this website and signed up for the 3B reporting and monitoring. Oddly, my mortgage score was showing 571 as the middle score. Immediately I disputed everything. Disputed everything again after 1month. Followed by another round of disputes and goodwill letters (thanks forum members for that nugget of advice). I monitored everything. I even monitored the house as it took 2.5mths of building to get where we are today. Its big and its beautiful! Im excited. The exterior is done.. waiting for all the insides to be put in.
Welp, after paying down some CC debt (ammassed as I was building credit), not applying for any new credit, watching my credit limits increase as my credit improved, and disputing every old account on my files, the lender ran my report today and said my middle score is now a 698 and I can move forward to document submission and inclusinon on the loan. You have no idea how happy I am. The excitement I felt earlier to see the house go up doesnt compare to how I feel right now, writing this!
I want to thank all of you for your help and insight. Spoke with the builder a few min ago and it looks like I can close on my birthday! March closing, here I come!!! The house should be done in about 4 weeks... but we can extend the closing - as long as its in the same quarter they said.
