VA loan after horrible divorce

Anonymous · ‎03-01-2015

Okay here is my situation. I got married extremely young and went into the military. The last year we were married she took out a bunch of credit in "our" name ruining my credit. It has been 3 years since then and the banks say my credit score is a 590.

I have since remarried and my wife has great credit so of course we want to buy a house. This has become particularly difficult especially since my credit is still garbage. Despite paying off all my debt. I literally have 0 debt now. That doesn't seem to matter. Most banks minimum credit limit is a 620 for a VA loan. Is there any way I can get a VA loan or do I have to continue to wait for the inevitable slow rise of my credit score?

Anonymous · ‎03-01-2015

If your wife has excellent credit and good solid credit cards with low utilization and opened for a few years have her add you as an authorized user to her highest limit cards you should be well over 620 in no time

Anonymous · ‎03-01-2015

I was added as an authorized user on my brothers 25k card and my score instantly went up 36 points as soon as it hit my credit. Also being u were military do u have a navy fed account ? They're lenient with giving high limit credit cards to ppl with lower credit scores I would try that

Anonymous · ‎03-03-2015

I would not bother with the AU route - it muddies the water to many lenders. Do you have any positive accounts? If not you need to establish at least three revolving accounts. You may need to go secured, but they work as well as unsecured for rebuilding. AVOID the vulture creditors like Credit One, First Premier, Open Sky, etc. Stick with reputable issuers like Capital One, major banks and Credit Unions. Most have secured card options for building credit. I usually recommend SDFCU, and NASAFCU as they are super easy to qualify for membership and you can do it all online and overthe phone.

Anonymous · ‎03-03-2015

Also I would suggest visiting a mortgage broker that specializes in VA loans and do a lender pull to see exactly where you are at. Depending on your area, VA lenders may go as low as 580 midscore.

Anonymous · ‎05-27-2015

Whats wrong with Open Sky ? I havnt had one problem, issue, or concern with them. I have had them for over a year, the open sky web site stinks but thats about it.

Anonymous · ‎05-27-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
Whats wrong with Open Sky ? I havnt had one problem, issue, or concern with them. I have had them for over a year, the open sky web site stinks but thats about it.

Open Sky is probably the "best of the worst". I probably should not lump them in with the likes of Predator One and First Predator....

I would still recommend them only as a "issuer of last resort".

MarineVietVet · ‎05-27-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
Okay here is my situation. I got married extremely young and went into the military. The last year we were married she took out a bunch of credit in "our" name ruining my credit. It has been 3 years since then and the banks say my credit score is a 590.

I have since remarried and my wife has great credit so of course we want to buy a house. This has become particularly difficult especially since my credit is still garbage. Despite paying off all my debt. I literally have 0 debt now. That doesn't seem to matter. Most banks minimum credit limit is a 620 for a VA loan. Is there any way I can get a VA loan or do I have to continue to wait for the inevitable slow rise of my credit score?

Hello and welcome to myFICO.

First of all I thank you for your service and sacrifice for your country.

I have moved this to the Mortgage Loan board. I think you will get more detailed information here. I wish you good luck!

Anonymous · ‎06-01-2015

Did you get this figured out? There are some 580 companies out there if you have reserves.