I want to buy a house

Anonymous · ‎08-24-2016

My scores are on the rise from reading and studing on how to improve my scores, which has been very helpful and encouraging. They average about 630 so far, I have 3 secured cards(1500 total) and a car loan. I want to buy a home early 2017 but what i don't know is what median score should i have before i start this process. I would like to buy a fixer upper but Im a bit of a cheap ass i make over 100k have ill have 30k saved by then. What score should I be shooting for, also how else can i get my numbers up to meet that number. I will say i just recently got a citi secured card it has not shown up on my credit reports yet.

Thanks for you help

Anonymous · ‎08-24-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
My scores are on the rise from reading and studing on how to improve my scores, which has been very helpful and encouraging. They average about 630 so far, I have 3 secured cards(1500 total) and a car loan. I want to buy a home early 2017 but what i don't know is what median score should i have before i start this process. I would like to buy a fixer upper but Im a bit of a cheap ass i make over 100k have ill have 30k saved by then. What score should I be shooting for, also how else can i get my numbers up to meet that number. I will say i just recently got a citi secured card it has not shown up on my credit reports yet.

Thanks for you help

Talk with a mortgage broker in your area and see what options you have available to you - Conventional, FHA, USDA, VA, etc. They will let you know what the score requirements are for each type of loan product.

StartingOver10 · ‎08-24-2016

You might want to visit the mortgage section here on the FICO boards so you can learn about the various programs before you speak to a mortgage professional. That way you can have a firm handle on what type of loan you need. Remember, mortgage lenders don't use FICO 8 scores, they use FICO mortgage scores - which you can learn about in the stickies at the top of the mortgage section.

JustinA · ‎08-24-2016

Cosigner? If not I'd shoot for 660 and you should be good on the score. Close any disputes pay any collection/lien. Down payment helps...deal locally

Starting TU: 536
Starting EQ: 573
Goal: 640

Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

Anonymous · ‎08-24-2016

You have a good deal of time while you're saving, so I would look at what is holding your scores down and see if you can rebuild from the bottom up, while using/making payments on time with your cards.

Check your mortgage scores here if you can, so that you have baseline numbers. Mine are quite a bit lower than my Fico 8's. Rates on mortgages are great right now, but if your scores are low your rates will be a good deal higher. Raising your scores, and securing a good rate, will save you a great deal of money in the long run.

Anonymous · ‎08-25-2016

What do you mean by Mortage scores ? Are those different from fico 8? Im trying to guage what deams a good score to obtain those lower rates.

Anonymous · ‎08-25-2016

Dont want to use a co-signer not something im interested in but i believe i can make 660. Could i get a conventional loan at that rate.

Anonymous · ‎08-25-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Dont want to use a co-signer not something im interested in but i believe i can make 660. Could i get a conventional loan at that rate.

If you buy a set of reports from here, or sign up for the 3B monitoring, you will be able to see your "mortgage" scores, along with some other score variants. These are simply the previous version of FICO scores, since mortgage lenders have not moved to the newer versions for various reasons.

660 will probably be good enough for a conventional, but will have you in the higher rate tiers. For a conventional I would shoot for the 700's. If you go FHA you may get better rates with lower scores and have a smaller down payment (as low as 3.5%)