VA Lender Search

[getnthere]

I am pretty new in the mortgage loan game, so I am going with the VA loan for the easy(well, easier) in.  So does anyone know how to find a lender that specializes in VA loans in Illinois, and how to tell if one you've found is legit and actually knows how to handle VA loans?

A little background:  DW just retired because of disability from the Navy, which entitles her to VA loan.  The twist?  Her credit is not that great--mid-500's from student loans before the Navy, so we will be relying on my credit/employment more.  So really we are looking for lenders that don't really look at credit scores because of having the VA guarantee.  

Also, because of the disability+retirement, a lot of the student loans may be forgiven, which would affect our DTI a lot, but I don't know how long we would have to wait for that to be reflected in the CR's, so anyone with tips on that should feel free to chime in too.

[MarineVietVet]

You might try this site:

Illinois Mortgage Lenders

Good luck to you. And thank your wife for her service.

From a BK years ago to:
7/09 TU-742 EQ- 779
8/09 TU-765 EQ- 783
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802

You can do the same thing with hard work.

[ArmyStrong]

From what I understand, VA doesn't require a minimum score, but most banks have a minimum for VA loans. For USAA and NavyFed you'll currently need at least a 620. (but as you can see below, it IS possible to get there from the low 500's! Good luck!)

Message Edited by ArmyStrong on 02-09-2010 10:58 PM

[Kimberly68]

I agree with ArmyStrong, although, VA does not look at credit scores, MANY banks do.  You must have a 1 yrs clean credit histor, and if you are paying off old collections I can tell you from experience. unless you are getting them deleted they will re-age and appear new. We initially dealt with BOA becuase they did not look at scores for VA, but the LO and UNDERWRITER was new and knew very little about credit report in 2007 and even less about VA loans, so we was advised to payoff off debt collections which we had the money, but wanted to pay at closing.  This HURT us alot.  As a suggestion, contact a LO ask of their knowledge of dealing with VA loans, pull your credit report and scores from myfico and take and/or fax to the Lo, have them to review along woth any debt you may have to give you a better picture.  Unfortunately, everyone do not have the knowledge to work VA and it can be a hassle, because oof their guidelines. We were fortunately to get our scors above 620 and clean up our report at the same time, but we had to wait until  lapse after we paid the old debts because they re-aged.    

GOOD LUCK..............

ps. try BBT as well.....