score for a home

[Anonymous]

The reason it is not adding up is not because you aren't being truthful, it's because if you have cash, you should be able to raise your score fairly easily.

When would you want to buy? If you can wait 3 - 6 months, you can fix your credit, keep your cash as reserves, and get an FHA loan with as little as 3.5% of the price of the house as a mortgage. 

I would do it that way, and with that amount of cash I would do the following.

Pull your credit yourself at annualcreditreport.com if you haven't already and see what's there. If you were just told your score by a loan officer, that's not enough information. Sometimes there are weird collection accounts we never knew were there - sometimes ours, sometimes not. 

Go to the "Rebuilding Your Credit" Forum on this site, and read about how to handle negative items on your credit report. Sometimes you can make deals with the companies that have those old accounts, and if any are in error, there's a process to get them off the report the fastest possible.  

That involves a certain amount of letter writing and then waiting for replies,  so in the meanwhile, go to the bank where you have your savings account (assuming it's there.) Sit down with a loan officer, tell her or him that you want to buy a house and have to raise your credit score and would love his/her help.

Ask for a $2k secured credit card ASAP, which means you give them $2k, and you get a limit of $2k. Then ask if  they will give you a personal loan for 3k, and use another 3k as collateral to put into a savings account specifically for that loan. The interest rate won't matter too much - you can pay it off early, as soon as you get your home. Go to another bank and get another credit card with the same deal. Use the cards, but NEVER let there be more than $150 as a balance. You can set up automatic payments from the collateral accounts so you don't have to think about payments. Always pay the day before the statement cuts. If you use HSBC, always pay by the 30th of each month. Only let one card at a time show a balance. The other should be a $0 balance.

I raised both my and my husband's credit scores an average of 120 points each in a few months. They'd be even higher now, but we have 2 new (used) car loans, which we really needed. 

Of course scores are one thing, cash reserves are another, but income is more important, because that will determine how much you can borrow. Income and how much cash down you are willing to offer will determine the price of the house you want. 

[Anonymous]

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No I haven't had any credit since 2007 but one credit card that is now down to $300.00 dollars so I really don't no where I am going wrong but I did have a judgment on me that will be off my credit report as of MAY 1,2009

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Unless you can give a full account of your credit file, I'd say your situatiuon is similar to my brothers a few years ago, Low credit scores because, 

a, He was self employed, b, he made a lot of money and c, he paid cash for everything,, He didn't even have a debit card with his checking account,  He paid cash, or wrote a  check, 

The result of that, was, he had a thin credit file and one of his bankrupt (and out of business) POS suppliers had filed a lein on him which caused his scores to stay tanked,  He didn't care until he tried to buy a new truck and found out the hard way, Paying cash for everything isn't the best way to use your money,,, 

Unless you post what your credit files look like, it'll be extremely difficult to figure out what's hurting you,,

[Anonymous]

If you buy the car then you will definetly have a problem getting the house. This will certainly increase your debt to income ration and decrease your score. You may want to wait for the judgment to be removed this may increse your score by 80 points.

[WannaHouse]

I have also read on here that Judgements have to be paid off. I am not sure that applies if it falls off.

If you have credit cards, pay them way down. (leave a small balance)

Anything bad on your reports in the last year or 2?

Something is dragging the scores down. Once that is figured out and fixed, your scores will come up.

[Anonymous]

What website would I find how many points can be decreased  or incresed on your credit report/ score

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
 This will certainly increase your debt to income ration and decrease your score.

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While I wouldn't buy a car right before trying to get approved for a house, the OP did say they haven't had any credit since 2007.  An open, positive line would be helpful in getting the scores up.  I personally would go for a credit card but an installment loan should help also.

[Anonymous]

DTI does not appear to be a major concern here and an installment loan would be helpful. The OPs problem is less "poor credit" than "no credit". A mix of different types of credit accounts is recommended.