topic Re: Advice Needed: Mortgage - FICO Scores in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Advice Needed: Mortgage - FICO Scores

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:22:28 GMT

My boyfriend and I are considering buying a house together for the first time. We are planning on purchasing in 11 months but want to get all of our ducks in a row before doing so. At this stage of the game, we are both using My Fico to get all three of our reports and scores. Looking into them to dispute any incorrect items and resolve any outstanding items. So far, I have already learned from this board about Pay for Deletion... thanks Tuscani... Any other advice would be most helpful and appreciated.

Also, I have a couple questions.

When a mortgage company looks at the credit of two people, which scores do they use? For instance, if my scores are as follows:

TransUnion: 628

Equifax: 608

Experian: 677

And his are:

TransUnion: 590

Equifax: 570

Experian: 618

How will they determine which scores get used? Do they take the average of mine and the average of his and then use the lowest score?

And how much does our salaries factor into our ability to get approved for a mortgage? Meaning, if we make quite a bit of money will mortgage companies allow more negatives on our credit reports?

Again, any advice is most appreciated.

AZCats

Message Edited by AZCats on 06-27-2007 03:07 PM

Message Edited by AZCats on 06-27-2007 03:22 PM

Re: Mortgage - FICO Scores

Tuscani — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:22:17 GMT

Both of your scores will be used... the middle number is generally what your broker will go by when determining rate. IMO, your DTI is just as important as your scores.

Re: Mortgage - FICO Scores

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:26:06 GMT

Thanks Tuscani!

We are sitting pretty good with our Debt to Income. Together we make $191K per year and only have one car payment ($600/mo) and two credit cards ($400/2300 balances). We plan on paying down the credit cards over the next 10 months at $250 per month as opposed to just paying them off in full immediately (which we can do). I read that it's better to do it over time because it shows good payment history too.

Re: Mortgage - FICO Scores

Tuscani — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:27:42 GMT

AZCats wrote:

Thanks Tuscani!

We are sitting pretty good with our Debt to Income. Together we make $191K per year and only have one car payment ($600/mo) and two credit cards ($400/2300 balances). We plan on paying down the credit cards over the next 10 months at $250 per month as opposed to just paying them off in full immediately (which we can do). I read that it's better to do it over time because it shows good payment history too.

Sounds like you are on your way. Hopefully the morgage gurus will chime in with their advice.

Re: Advice Needed: Mortgage - FICO Scores

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 01:25:04 GMT

Right it looks like you're going to be subprime or alt-a. If that is the case then the lender will use the mid fico of whoever makes more. You need to start saving money and working on the credit scores. Your goal should me to get both mid credit scores above 620 to go Prime. Start thing home much you of a home you want. Once you get an idea of that you can start thinking about a down payment.

When you get your scores above the 620 the lender will use the lower mid of the tw to go prime.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&thread.id=9618

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Message Edited by OneMortgageGuy on 06-27-2007 08:25 PM

Re: Advice Needed: Mortgage - FICO Scores

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 02:33:09 GMT

Thanks Mortgage guy!

We are gonna bust our butts to NOT be subprime...

Re: Mortgage - FICO Scores

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 05:48:54 GMT

AZCats wrote:

Thanks Tuscani!

We are sitting pretty good with our Debt to Income. Together we make $191K per year and only have one car payment ($600/mo) and two credit cards ($400/2300 balances). We plan on paying down the credit cards over the next 10 months at $250 per month as opposed to just paying them off in full immediately (which we can do). I read that it's better to do it over time because it shows good payment history too.

I have a better idea. Pay the cards down to $100 each, now. That will bring your utilization down, and give you immediate FICO gains. Then just make the minimum payment each month until the cards are PIF. Then charge about $50 to $75 on each card, and repeat the cycle. Your utilization stays ultra-low, you save on interest, you keep the accounts active, and you put the credit card companies on notice that YOU are in control, not them.