score dropped from 624 to 585 cant by home

[jamevfan]

I have been to hell and back with the process of buying a home, I had the mortgage broker we were dealing with drop my score from a 624 to a 585 i guess from running my credit contiuously by trying to find me a home loan and still not finding one so im back at square one. I also have 2 first premier credit cards that reported over the limit last moth that i have paid off. I am at my whits end trying to buy a home, this has been the worst experience ever.I wish there was someone who could just deliver what they promise and be done with it now I have to find out how to get my scores back up which means starting from scratch. anyone have any tips that will help get my score up quickly?

[rockymtngrl]

The first thing you would need to do is pull your reports to find out exactly whats on them to cause them to go down. Typically brokers will just pull once for the application and can shop your loans to multiple lenders without repulling-unless a lot of time has gone by and reports have expired (typically 3-4 months). If 2 credit cards went over the limit and those are your only 2 cards that right there is enough to give you a 40 point drop. If you've paid them off then once the new balances report you should see your score go back up, unless there is something else going on.

[Lel]

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jamevfan wrote:
I have been to hell and back with the process of buying a home, I had the mortgage broker we were dealing with drop my score from a 624 to a 585 i guess from running my credit contiuously by trying to find me a home loan and still not finding one so im back at square one. I also have 2 first premier credit cards that reported over the limit last moth that i have paid off. I am at my whits end trying to buy a home, this has been the worst experience ever.I wish there was someone who could just deliver what they promise and be done with it now I have to find out how to get my scores back up which means starting from scratch. anyone have any tips that will help get my score up quickly?

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Mortgage inquiries that occur within a 45 period are treated as a single inquiry.

How many hard inquiries do you see on your credit reports?

An inquiry does not typically have that dramatic of an effect on your credit score.  You need to look at your entire credit report to see what other negative factors may be present.  Having had two cards over their credit limit is not going to help.

I recall from your prior posts that you have not had good luck with loan officers.  They made promises that no one in their right mind should have made.  Your scores as of a couple months ago were just barely above the threshold typically required.  To guarantee approval is irresponsible.  Even persons with higher credit scores than yours cannot be absolutely certain of approval.

There's more to a mortgage loan approval than just the credit score.  The information that underlies the credit report is just as important.  Your FICO score history in your signature suggests the presence of negative information on your credit reports in the recent past.  Even with a credit score that meets the minimum requirements, if there is too much derogatory information on your report, then a mortgage approval would not be forthcoming.

[907grown]

You'll go back up after FP reports!  Get all your ducks in a row now while you wait for them to report!

[jamevfan]

eveything that was on my report when i had the 624 is still there with no new derog.The only negative thing I could possible think of is the over the limit on the credit cards, I have been paying all my accounts on time meaning no lates and every time i find a loan officer they say pay the CC off and within 2-3 onths I should be ready. But after its all said and done the story changes. GOOD loan officers seem hard to come buy these days, I dont know if it's because the want the potential sale or the fact of competion. Does anyone have any good LO in Houston Tx who will work with me and not look at dollars signs?

[Anonymous]

I am confused and am trying to clarify, so please do not get offended.

You say the LO's keep telling you to pay off the cc.

You say last month your CC's both reported over the limit and scores dropped (40 points sounds about right for that)

You say the loan officers are dropping the ball.

these do not add up.  I get that you have since paid off the CC's, but obviously if they jumped to over the limit either you charged more on them or you  missed/were late on a payment.  In either case, the point from the LO's would have been do not charge anything else and pay all debt down.   Up until recently you had not done that it appears (and correct me if I am wrong)

Your scores will recover quickly if you paid the cc's off and do nto charge anything on them.  That means nothing mroe than maybe a gas purhcase once a month to keep the cards active.  See where your scores are when the new credit balances report and go from there.

I was just confused because you say they dropped the ball and have not acted in good faith, but in the same paragraph explain that you just recently did what they have been telling you to get done.  I am assuming there is much more to the story and feel free to point me to another thread or explain, but just going by original post above, the cards should have never been allowed to report over balance and should have been paid down (if not off) sooner if you wanted to maintain scores and/or buy a house.

Good luck.  

[rockymtngrl]

The OP has first premier cards. Those are fee based, low credit limit, rebuilding type cards. They are very difficult to keep under the limit because the limits are so low (typically $200-$250) and they charge you fees for everything. They will easily charge $40-$50 per month in fees. Then they hit you with a $150 annual fee which puts you over the limit so they can also hit you with OTL fees and you are easily double over the limit without ever missing a payment or charging anything.

[Anonymous]

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@rockymtngrl wrote:
  The OP has first premier cards. Those are fee based, low credit limit, rebuilding type cards. They are very difficult to keep under the limit because the limits are so low (typically $200-$250) and they charge you fees for everything. They will easily charge $40-$50 per month in fees...

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Well, for better or worse, I also have a First Premiere Card, which does charge fees commensurate with servicing high-risk debtors. But, it DOES NOT charge anything like $40-$50 a month in fees -- unless you do something avoidable, like go over your credit limit! Most of those high-risk fees are up-front, when you get the card, so if you then pay your balance down to zero, you have your entire credit limit available thereafter (mine began substantially more than their minimum $250). They charge the annual fee pro rata monthly (mine, for example, is $84 at $7 per month), so you don't get hit with BOTH a monthly fee AND an annual fee. It's one or the other. And, although they charge a fee for online account access, you can demur and get up-to-date account info free via a toll-free telephone number. Also, I have absolutely no problem knowing EXACTLY how much my balance is using computerized checkbook/bookkeeping software. Thus, I'm with Mickie here: you can't blame someone else for going over your credit limit. And, yep, it'll ding your FICO score.

Message Edited by oldhack62 on 11-18-2009 12:37 PM

[rockymtngrl]

Perhaps I was misunderstood. I am in agreement that if your card goes over the limit its no one fault but your own. My point was that its possible for a card like FP to go over the limit WITHOUT missing a payment or charging anything. My husband had one in the past and he WAS charged $45-$50 per month in fees. The minimum payment on the card was only $15 so if a person were not paying close attention the balance could easily go up each month without charging anything. I apologize if my post was'nt clear.

[Lel]

I think the overall take-home message from this discussion is that going over a credit card's limit, regardless of the reason, is going to weigh on one's credit score.  With low-limit cards with monthly or annual fees, the likelihood of going overlimit is greater.

The OP was given some pie-in-the-sky ideas about his/her chances of being approved for a loan.  This shouldn't have happened - there are simply no guarantees.  As Benjamin Franklin once wrote, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."