topic How much can they approve me for? in Mortgage Loans

How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:41:11 GMT

Hello, 2 days ago i submited a application for a VA home loan, the lender is countrywide. They told me that the application needed to be manualy underwritting and that it can take up to 5 working days. My question the score they took was 606 and the DTI is 34% i am asking for a loan of 90K. Can someone tell me with the information and from past experience what could be the most we can get approve for? the reasone i ask is beacuse the loan officer told me that they needed a number in the application for them to work for i really havent decided on a place or the price, so i told him that just to tell me what is the must i can qualify for, but he told me he coudent do that that they needed a especifict amount, so i told him 90k, i really dont know if we can get approve for that much ( we are crossing our fingers that we could) the other question is if by a miricale we do get approve for that much, can we then later ask to see if maybe we can push it to 100k or 110k? i think that will requier for it to go to the underwritter againe dosent it? but what i am trying to say out of all these is with a DTI of 34% what could be the must we can ask for? and can we change the loan amount if the amount once the application is approve?

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:44:15 GMT

I don't think 34% is high. From what I know, they can approve with a much higher DTI than than. I say ask for higher than you need so you have more room to work with. Just make sure the payments are comfortable for you.

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:50:45 GMT

So i should wait after the underwritter approves or application ( wich i hope) and then ask for more? beacuse they told me once the underwritter has the application that we cant change the amount during that process.

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:02:03 GMT

Then I would call them and say I need to rethink the numbers to stop them from going forward.

Also, I would seek a different VA lender. I think it is pure BS that they cannot give you even an idea. I would tell then to hold the underwriting then also seek a new lender.

I have a score of 655 and went to a VA lender. After pulling my credit report, they could tell me right away how much they can approve me for. I didn't even tell them how much I wanted. I say try a different lender. Also ask the lender how much their origination fee is. It should be no more than 1%. Even with 1% try to talk them down.

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:03:21 GMT

Wow, the loan officer said it would take five days to go through manual underwriting, I have been waiting for close to a month now and the underwriter still hasn't gotten to my file. Can you keep me posted on when the underwriter makes a decision on your file? Because I would like to inform National City that other banks are working a lot quicker than they are.

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:11:40 GMT

Thanks, But i would hate to stop the process and then go through another lender and they pull my credit report againe that might lower my score a little more and seens they already went with a 606 what will the other one go with if my credit score drop a little more? But cant we change our amount once the loan is approve?

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:15:28 GMT

I think I read somewhere that pulls within 14 days count as one. Regardless, multiple mortgage pulls are expected.

But you have to ask yourself this: are you willing to scarfice a higher loan just to save a few points?

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:51:48 GMT

Hey can you please give me a idea on who would be a good Va lende?

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:05:33 GMT

I just looked up lenders in the phone book then called and interview them to see how much experience they have with VA. I then went with the one that knew the most info about it. A couple of places that I called claimed to have done VA but when I asked them a general question like what is the max loan va offers (even though I knew the answer was $417k), they said they would have to get back to me. I knew right there that I wasn't going with them. The one I picked is a local lender.

As for underwriting I think they just took about a week but I was not in a rush at the time. Even after I got all of that approved through under writing, I could adjust my amount if I wished.

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:36:46 GMT

Ok just to follow up, i just got of the phone with my loan officer manager seens the loan officer is not in today. These was our conversation, he told me that with the 34% DTI and with the amount i don't want to go over in mortgage and insurance payment i could provaly ask for 110k to be in the save side.So know he told me he will go to the underwriter and change our original amount of 90k and out it to 110K ( i am praying everything turns out good ). Regarding the origination fee yes is 1% which will be 1100 or so, he told me that i do have a option of either pay that amount or not, if i choose not to, the interest rate will go up example is the interest rate is at 6% and i pay the 1% then it will stay at 6% the interest rate, if i decide not to pay the origination fee then my interest rate will jump from 6.0 to 6.5 or something like that. I just found out u can negotiate the origination fee and i will try to do that. they did told me that we should have a answer no later than Thursday of next week, meanwhile ill keep my fingers cross that everything goes well and they get us approve.

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:41:30 GMT

I will keep my fingers crossed too. I need some clairfication. Is this 34% DTI with or without the new mortgage? That does make a difference.

As for the paying the 1% origination fee and having it affect your rate is pure BS. I have never heard of that. Can someone confirm?

If you don't want to pay your origination fee, then just have them include it with the mortgage. For example, you buy a house for 110k, but don't want to pay closing cost. You would then have them write the sale of the house for 111k instead.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:21:47 GMT

Well i called againe and made myself pass like if i was interested in a VA loan, and yes they did tell me the same thing that they have a plan where u can just pay the origination fee or if you dont want to the interest rate may jump half a point. Regarding the closing cost i dindt know u can add the closing cost to the mortgage, i know the VA funding fee you can add it to the loan but i wasent aware you can do the same thing with the closing. I also know you can negotiate the closing with the seller but that will be all up to them. The DTI i am not sure if it is adding the new loan ( if i get approve ) but that is what the loan officer told me that our DTI was 34% i currently dont pay rent or have any morgage, and i have like 3 cards 2 of them i dont owe nothing to and the other i owe 2900 the car loan just got paid off so i dont have that one no more, and the loan officer told me he will be takking that off seens it is still showing up.

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:33:12 GMT

Hi-

The info below might better assist you in the decision making process regarding the VA loan:

You can ask seller to help pay the closing so you don't have to pay 100% of it
Origination fee can be negotiated but sometimes they won't budge.
The VA funding fee is included with the closing cost. Closing cost is the amount you come up with out of pocket. That includes everything such as the origination fee, taxes, appraisal, funding fee etc.
Do you have a service connected disability? If yes, you can get the funding fee waved.

I am guessing that since you don't have a mortgage payment right now, the lender is looking at your 34% as your current DTI ratio. That would mean, if you take out the mortgage, your DTI would go up if you don't pay your current debt off. We currently have a VA loan approval for the max $417k and that brings us to a 51% DTI.

I hope some of this info helps. Also, I get the feeling that you are new to this so just a word of advice, if you don't mind: Don't sign anything until you know all your options and what is involved.

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:45:06 GMT

is weird why is my DTI so high if i don't have a mortgage or pay rent and i just have 3 cc 2 of them which are paid of and the other is just 2900 and i make 4068 a month, will the BK i have on file be hurting the DTI? and thanks so much to your advice, ill make sure i review all the papers carefully and not sign in the dotted line until everything is 100% clear i don't mind if we have to make a pot of coffee and stay there all night trying to understand all that.

Re: How much can they approve me for?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:51:59 GMT

No, BK shouldn't affect the DTI. I must have read your post wrong because I got the impression that you had a 34 DTI without the mortgage. Now that you put the numbers out there, then I can safely say that the 34% is with mortgage (90k). Good thing we got that cleared.

But yes, glad to help.