Should I apply for mortgage to see where I'm at????

[Anonymous]

Hello, we are hoping to buy end of this year. We have been working on raising our credit score to get qualified. The builder we like in our town uses a preferred lender, we were thinking of applying now just to see if it's even possible to get a mortgage with them and/or any suggestions they may have to get qualified. The preferred lender is Pulte Mortgage. Will this hurt our credit score significantly? any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't waste an inquiry.

Pay to get your mortgage scores, and then you can talk to a lender to get a ballpark of what's possible (without going thru an actual pre-qual)

[frugalQ]

I agree with the above....

just get your mortgage scores from here, and then contact Pulte Mortgage...provide them with your scores and any negatives on your report and see what they say.

[Anne1208]

My husband and i want to build a new house in 12 months or so, and need a bump in our credit. We went to talk to the mortgage person at our credit union on Friday.  She did run everything for us, and spend 2.5 hours going over 1. What we'd qualify for 2. what our upfront down payment/prepaids/closing costs would be for the highest we'd be willing to spend; and 3. looking at our credit profiles and letting us know what we'd need to do between now and then to improve the situation, both in terms of getting the score raised, and just individual items they like to see on the report.

Their "inquiry" list they see on their reports as a lender is 120 days, which means the two inquiries for us will fall off for the purposes of mortgage qualification by the time we buy.  even if they didnt, it was WELL WORTH it to me to do that exercise - it was extremly helpful.

She had us consolidate my credit cards in a secured loan from our car title, which saved me money, got extra positive tradelines on both our reports that we both needed (joint installment loan), and also opened us a joint credit card. when youve got the person who would be giving you a home loan telling you what she needs to see and how to get you there, it really helps.

 from a personal perspective, after months (heck, years) of angst about our credit and wondering where we stand and what to do in these last 12 months of saving, it was the best thing we couldve done and I feel 100% better, as does my husband.  Also, the lady said "we would give you a mortgage today if you had the cash available" (we will have what we need in 12 months).  Hearing that and knowing that i saved $1000 in interest with that installment loan and will see our scores rise bc of our actions, really is motivating both of us in these last 12 months.

So thats just my opinion...and that was at a credit union wit whom weve been saving for about 6 months...im not sure if people would have the same experience at a bank or other lender.