Back in June of this year I I wanted to live the dream of being a home owner. At that time my fico was 560 and I was drowning. My credit was ok but my score wasn't reflecting it. I spent many hour's reading this forum to learn better management of my finances to get that house. My goal was a 620 fico to qualify for an FHA loan. I cut all credit card spending, paid down balances, and saved money too. In june I had zero in my savings account and by the end of October I had my 3.5% down payment saved. I also took the initiative to call my creditors on items hurting my scores. Long story short I got a late late payment removed from my car lease and two medical collections were removed entirely after paying off. After I paid off I called them to see at the possibility of removing them entirely after telling them I was working towsrds a house. They They agreed. That only left me with a 5 year old bankruptcy. I was able to get get preapproved in October and made an offer on a house in November. I got the conditional approval today and we are set to close next Friday. I am beyond ecstatic.
For people out there with less then perfect credit like I do there is hope if you work it and give it time. The advice here is priceless. In 4 months I jumped my credit score 75 points by listening to the advice I read on here. Now I can provide my family with a house for xmas.