Credit score

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am writing to see if anybody can help me.  My credit score is around 590.  I just recently paid off a bunch of things due to a settlement that my recently ex  husband received through his job.  There are some late payments on my credit score because of him but most of the are a year old or more, maybe one that is a little more recent since he was trying to screw me up during the divorce.   I am looking to refinance my house and get his name off of it, will I be able to do it?  I am a registered nurse and make decent money,  all I have is a car payment which is about 350 a month  two credit cards with very low limits under 400 on both and the payments are like 20 a month on both.  I will have them paid off very soon, and of course the house which is 680 a month.   My debt to income ratio is around 15 percent or less, what I am paying out is not even close to half of what I bring in a month.    My credit score is low because of a crappy marriage and now I want to get his name off of it, so that we will have nothing together except our son.    PLease tell me I will be able to do this!!

[Jazzzy]

Hi KellieRN, and welcome to the forums...from Lynette (RN)...

You can do this. You've made it this far, and cleaning up your credit may take a bit of time and patience, but you can get there. Many of us here have been in the same mess.

What I would recommend first is getting copies of your credit reports. You can get free copies of all three at www.annualcreditreport.com. That is where you can get one free copy of your report from each credit reporting agency each year (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). If you do that, don't buy any "credit scores" from them. If you buy scores, you want to make sure you are buying FICO scores. Where did you get your 590 score? Is that a FICO score?

After you know what is on your reports, come back and post the negatives one by one in the Rebuilding Your Credit forum. There may be some things you can do to rid yourself of some of the negative information. That is not always the case...but sometimes it is. For example...are any of the late payments credit card payments? If so, whose name is the credit card in? If you are simply an authorized user on one of his cards, you can have that removed from your reports. That is just one example. The experts here can help you.

In the meantime, do some reading here in the forums...especially the Rebuilding forum. And...get the credit cards paid off ASAP. That will help your scores.

Hang in there, and come back with questions.

[RobertEG]

Hi, Kellie.

I would first take the excellent suggestions offered by Lynette, and order a copy of each of your free credit reports (not scores) from annualcreditreport.com.

I would offer one intermediate step before trying to plow through the jungle of information that these reports will provide.  You have lingering debt, account derogs, and usage while with your ex-husband.  You may also have lingering effects of actions taken by him subsequent to your divorce.  So the terms of your divorce settlement may have major implicatsions on your obligation vs his.

A thorough and complete legal divorce decree will usually deal with the dispostition of all matters., either upon a separation agreeenent executed by the parties, or independent proclamation of the judge in te divorce decree. Some may have been ordered only to him, or only to you,and some may have remained as joint property obligation. The biggest red flag to me is the mortgage.  I cant imagine any judge issuing a divorce decree without clear speciiation of disposition of the marital real property.  Did you agree to receive all equity in the property in exchange for your agreement to assume the mortgage in your name only?  If the parties dont reach agreement on this major, major issue, the judge will usuallly just order the property sold, and the assets disttributed equally.  It is the primary job of the judge in a divorce decree to see than one party does not figuratively "screw" the other.

So, I would meet with the attorney who handled your divorce, and ask him/her to interpret compliance with what is in your CR with the terms that he/she negotiated for you. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi, I am writing to see if anybody can help me.  My credit score is around 590.  I just recently paid off a bunch of things due to a settlement that my recently ex  husband received through his job.  There are some late payments on my credit score because of him but most of the are a year old or more, maybe one that is a little more recent since he was trying to screw me up during the divorce.   I am looking to refinance my house and get his name off of it, will I be able to do it?  I am a registered nurse and make decent money,  all I have is a car payment which is about 350 a month  two credit cards with very low limits under 400 on both and the payments are like 20 a month on both.  I will have them paid off very soon, and of course the house which is 680 a month.   My debt to income ratio is around 15 percent or less, what I am paying out is not even close to half of what I bring in a month.    My credit score is low because of a crappy marriage and now I want to get his name off of it, so that we will have nothing together except our son.    PLease tell me I will be able to do this!!

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I think you're asking if your current FICO score and financial situation is such that you will be able to qualify for a loan to refinance your house.  

A good place to start is the page in the myFICO Financial Help Center regarding refinancing.  It's here:  http://www.myfico.com/HelpCenter/Mortgages/Refinancing.aspx.

You might also consider finding a local credit union and talk to them about refinancing.  You could write out the items that you mentioned in your post and taking that list and your CRs into the credit union and just asking their advice.  I say credit union because they might be easier to talk to than a loan officer at a bank.

[RobertEG]

If the house was specified in your divorce decree as your sole asset, have your attorney require your ex to execute a new deed of trust to you, as the sole, and not joint, tenant in trust.

You need to talk to your attorney. 

[MarineVietVet]

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@RobertEG wrote:

If the house was specified in your divorce decree as your sole asset, have your attorney require your ex to execute a new deed of trust to you, as the sole, and not joint, tenant in trust.

You need to talk to your attorney. 

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I agree 100%.