USDA Direct NJ

[Anonymous]

Well today was going to be 'the' day. I thought our credit cards would update by today to show zero balance on all but 1 small balance. So I was going to send in pre-qual for USDA Direct loan. Guess I gotta wait and see how it looks tomorrow.
On 1/31/17 my mid score was 620. Since then I've paid down the credit cards and had 1 medical collection deleted from all 3 CB's (not my responsibility). Another Paid (as of 2/17, paid monthly since last year) medical collection that is showing on 2 CB's. I'm really hoping my scores have increased so my mid is at 640 before they check credit. I've read they are not as strict if your mid score is over 640.

Here's some info on us: 2 adults, 2 kids. Husband had a great paying job until 1 year ago when he physically couldn't handle the work anymore. He has since been diagnosed with an auto immune disease. Trying to get him SSDI. So it's just my income which is another hurdle. I own a home daycare that is doing great financially but because I take so many deductions it looks like I don't make alot on the past years taxes. Currently my income this year would be $43000. We'll see how they process it.
BK 7 discharged 3/15. No lates since 8/14. I have no current rental history.
Long story kinda short: Mortgage was in MIL's name for house we've shared since 2009 but we paid the bills. We started splitting the bills 4 1/4 yrs ago when BIL's family was evicted and we allowed them to move in. She decided November 2015 after a falling out (alot of stress with 9 ppl living under same roof) she was letting house go to foreclosure. Since we aren't on anything we have no way of saving it. Owe way more than it's worth now and we can't buy it as a short sale because of the arms length rule. We don't want to leave our house but there's nothing we can do. I've even written the mortgage company asking for an exception with no reply.

I wanted to keep a timeline to help others as I found two other posts that really helped me learn about this mortgage option.

[Anonymous]

Update: credit cards still didn't update. I decided to check my scores anyway. Very happy to report my mid score is 663!
I faxed over the pre-qual app this morning. I would've preferred a paper trail by emailing it but I couldn't get the scanner part of the printer to connect to the laptop. Will send follow up email later to make sure it was received. I'm so excited, I hope we get approved!

[Anonymous]

After getting my scanner to work I emailed the app a few times because fax wasn't recieved. Finally got a reply on Tuesday 3/28 that it was in line for processing.
Today 3/30 myfico alerted me that an inquiry was done on 3/29. Of course they pulled Experian which is my lowest score. (630 before the update of my cards) other scores were 663 and 673 so I know I'm good.
Just waiting to hear from them so I can fill out full application.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I also live in NJ. My hubby and I will be looking to start the home buying process in the very near future. Our credit scores are similar to yours, so I'm hoping that your updates may give us some guidance.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for following along! Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

I was wrong. They checked Equifax not Experian. Still my lowest, just got the names mixed up.

[Ginger1975]

Oops I logged in with my account when I was posting under husbands originally. So ginger1975= hindsightis2020

Update:
Usda rep called me on 3/31. Right away I was being denied because of the low sore she saw. I explained that was not the mid score which was alot higher. Then she moved onto my self employed income being too low and car loans too high. She said it would help to refinance which I've wanted to do but didn't want to touch our credit. Ran up to the credit union after work that day and applied. Both cars were refinanced saving us $210/month! I tried getting a hold of rep several times last week to update the refinance and that my husband started a new job so we now have his income. I decided to apply online Friday night 4/7. Rep called me 8am 4/10 with a list of papers needed (bank statements, tax returns, etc). Dropped that off with check for credit report this morning 4/11. Office is only 7 minutes away so that was convenient. Fingers crossed! 

[Anonymous]

No news yet but it appears to be moving alone.

4/17/17 alert that they pulled our credit reports. Mid scores were 675 (dh) and 694 (me)
4/18/17 recieved letter in mail (why can't they call or email??) Requesting w2's for husband, employment and asset verication forms and 2 paystubs for husband. Since he recently started he does not have any yet. Told to send when he gets them.
4/19/17 emailed requested info minus paystubs
4/20/17 husbands employer received verification paperwork
4/21/17 recieved depositary verification for our bank to fill out
4/24/17 dropped off both completed forms to local USDA office by 9am
4/24/17 credit report check pending in bank acct

Really hoping to hear some good news this week. Mother in law was served court summons for foreclosure on 4/14. Would love to be moved out sooner rather than later.

[asgor]

Thank you for updated information!

[Anonymous]

No problem asgor!
Update: we're approved!!!
4/24/17 recieved email from area specialist saying she would be reviewing our application
4/25/17 recieved email from her requesting days/time for face to face interview. Left a message on her voicemail because my hours vary.
4/26/17 followed up with email since no call back. She replied quickly and was set up for 7am 4/27.
4/27/17 after reviewing credit together and going over program (because of the research I did I was very familiar with already) she finally said we were approved! $197,000 with 1.9% interest rate with conditions. Need to provide paystubs for husbands new job and denial letter from social security disability for his employment gap.
She also said we can get the max amount ($220,000) if we pay off 5 credit cards. They all equal about $1500 together but frees up $125 for the DTI. So I'm doing that and sending proof so we can get max loan amount.

We are very interested in buying a lot and putting a modular on. However, it's not easy to find a modular builder to buy the land and do the work upfront because the USDA only does 1 closing and no payments made before. Ugh!

So far this has been very easy and quick. We'll see how the rest of the process goes but so far it's well worth it!