New Member looking for a home loan

[banktaculous]

I have a fico score of 684 with Experian from myfico. My wife and I are tired of living in an apartment and are looking for a home to call our own. I live in Texas and the house we are looking at is listed at $200k. We have not meet with any lenders at this time. I have a good credit history of 12 years but I have about 25k in credit card debt. I have a car payment in my name for $325. My student loans payment is $640 a month. I have never missed any payment or been late. I don't want to waste a realitor or banks time. I make about 55k a year and I'm curious to know what are my chances of getting approved for a FHA loan. My wife is currently working on her credit it's right below 600. Together we make 95-100k

[Anonymous]

Well couple of things goin on.  First a lot of credit card debt.  The fact all accounts current are good also with no late payment.  The problem might be debt ratio.  Do a search on that topic to get up to speed on it.  In the mortgage business it can be a deal breaker.  Basically the lender is going to take a look at what ya got going out, and whats coming, and then figure if the new mortgage payment is gonna tilt the balance too far.

Also search credit card utilization, it means how much of your available credit is accounted for (for example 30k credit lines but 25k is "spent" = not good).

Also your wife's CS is too low.  If her middle score is say, 540, thats they one they're gonna use.  You probably can get some kind of loan with the status quo, but you won't get the best deal or the most house.

I'm thinking you're 12-18 months away.  Pull the report, and see what you're at, and with that info you can make a plan with the help of good LO.  When you come back with better numbers you can qualify for more house for less money.