Still in underwriting...

[Anonymous]

Our FHA loan has been in underwriting since Tuesday morning and hoping to have final approval by Monday/Tuesday next week.  We haven't received a lot of feedback at this point.  My credit score is 713.  House is 30K less than we're approved.  This is our second house (with 2 years of perfect payment history).  Our 'negatives' include a 30-day late in June on a low balance credit card ($33) which was paid in full in July.  We sent a check to pay off the account in May, but due to a cross country move we got it in a couple days past the due date resulting in a late fee we were unaware of (since mail was slow being forwarded) and thus you have the 30-day late.  Another negative was an overdraft from our checking - however this was covered by our savings account through overdraft protection.  Thanks to a separate FICO Forum post though I am not as worried about this instance-since it was isolated.  One thing I am worried about is a wage garnishment in May/June that the underwriter can see on our bank statement.  We gifted a vehicle to a relative and turned in the required docs to the county to show we no longer owned.  We were under the impression we were relieved of the yearly property taxes on this vehicle... it was really a miscommunication between us and the county, but they went over our heads and garnished the funds.  A one-time garnishment for $137... $37 for the taxes, $100 fee from our bank.  Closing is scheduled for Friday...  should I be concerned about any of these items or am I in the home stretch?  I know some of the contributors on this forum are much more familiar with the FHA guidelines and what items are red flags.  Being naive and nervous I would love your honest insight.  Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

Howmuch down and how much reserves.  Also, what is the apraised value of the house verses your purchase price.

Neither of the three things (with proper documentation/explanantion) should be a problem but all three is a fairly short time period could be.  On the good side, you have good mortgage history and a high FICO score.  Right now, they can be picky about the 1 year without lates, but high scores I think will ease any concern on this.  If you have reserves and or a decent down payment I would think you would be fine.

[Anonymous]

3% down without much reserves.  This was a company relocation and we are using their preferred lender - Wells Fargo - and working with the relocation specialists.  Savings got drained after paying the deficit equity on the sale of our previous house.

[Anonymous]

Oh... and the appraisal was $5K more than the loan amount.  Which is odd because it is new construction and was originally under contract by another buyer (who ended up getting a last minute job transfer) for $30K more than we're paying because at the time of our offer the builder was running a free basement incentive.

[Anonymous]

More feedback would be soooooooo appreciated! 

[DallasLoanGuy]

You have a lot going for you.... a short, succinct letter of explanation would satisfy most underwriters every time.

if you are using a broker, it will depend on where they sent the loan