Re: I would like to purchase a home help!!!!

Anonymous · ‎05-19-2007

Hi, I am very new to this but thought I would give it a try. I am 25 years old and apparently made some bad decisions early on. I have paid off all my past debt and managed to buy a car with like 12% interest ouch!! And get several credit cards that report each month. I also have taken out several small loans and paid them off thinking all this would kind of over shadow the past. Guess I wasn't well educated because it isn't working quite as I would like. I haven't had a late payment in 3 years, I will have all my credit card debit down to less than 5% by July and my last small loan will be paid off at this time also. I will have my car paid off by 15 Nov little over three years early. I have done all of this in hopes that it will be easier to buy a home. But for some reason my score doesn't seem to be going up. I was wandering how long after I pay the credit cards off and my last loans til the post to my report. Also I am a single parent and I know that it goes off of my income will it be a factor that I don't have a second income. I am in the military and was thinking about taking advantage of my VA loan, but was told that it can sometimes be a double edge sword they can give me the loan, but with higher interest. I am sure I can afford it have been over and over my budget, but will the lenders see it that way with my past credit history? PLEASE HELP ME RAISE MY SCORE!!! One more question do bad accounts fall off after 7 years of opening or paying in full and closing? Thank you sooooo much I appreciate anyone's input on this.

Anonymous · ‎05-19-2007

What are your FICO scores?

Have you looked at all 3 CRs?

What are all the negatives on your CRs?

What are your CC balances, limits and APRs?

VA is actually an extremely good benefit to veterans and you should definitely look at it. $0 down, and the interest rates are usually very competitive. If you have 720 FICOs you can probably do better thru a prime lender, but short of that VA might be the way to go. They don't look at your FICOs for VA. I believe they look at recent payment history, they look at your DTI, and they require no lates in the past 12 months.

Message Edited by Noah_Bodie on 05-19-2007 10:33 PM

Anonymous · ‎05-19-2007

Ok, lets see my fico scores are: Equ: 628

Exp: 641

Trans: ? (there was an issue with the server today and couldn't get)

And of course I have a car loan bal of 11115

My cc debit is: Military Star Card credit 4000, used 3400

Master Card: credit 1000, used 750

Best Buy: credit 400, used 81

This year I pd off 4 other small loans one left that will be paid of in July.

All of the debit that is mentions before will be paid off by November including my car. I have been working very hard on this.

The negatives on my reports include 3 pd collection accounts

1 pd 60 day notice

1 issue that is in collections ( I pd this once in 03 don't have the

receipt like a retard and can't find the company to satisfy)

1 cc that was settled for less than full amount and closed

I think that is it, but I haven't made a late payment in three years, never defaulted on a loan, have no public records, and have pd EVERYTHING that was negative of course except that one account.

I really want to buy a house!!! What should I do next and do you think that paying these things off will help my scores?

PS: Thank you so much for you time and help you have no idea how much I appreciate it!!

Anonymous · ‎05-19-2007

Your CC util is high. 78%. Getting it down to 50% will cost $1650. 30% $2650. 9% $3700. The lower you get it, the higher your FICOs will climb.

Try to GW your negatives.

With no lates in the past year, an FHA loan will only wanna look at your DTI.

Have you run the FICO simulator to see how much your FICOs are project to rise if you pay down your CCs?

Anonymous · ‎05-19-2007

Yes it said to pay down my credit card debit in 24 months and it should go up to 698-738 I really wasn't sure if this was accurate and iff I pay them off by July will my score go up that much or do I still need to wait the 2 yrs (even after paying them off)? Also those negatives how do I find addresses to mail the GWs to?

Anonymous · ‎05-19-2007

Oh I forgot to ask I have been monitoring my credit score with freecreditreort.com I thought they would be basically the same, but my fico score is higher than my credit score from the same three institutions i don't understand what the difference between credit score and fico score are? Could you please let me know?

Anonymous · ‎05-20-2007

I have seen scores going up in 3 months after you payoff your debt or bring it down.

smallfry · ‎05-20-2007

@Anonymous wrote:
Oh I forgot to ask I have been monitoring my credit score with freecreditreort.com I thought they would be basically the same, but my fico score is higher than my credit score from the same three institutions i don't understand what the difference between credit score and fico score are? Could you please let me know?

The only scores that matter are your FICO scores.

Anonymous · ‎05-20-2007

Aimee,

Paying down your CCs by July will definitely give you a good bump in the short term. Get 'em down to the 1-9 percent util range.

For GW:
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&message.id=5933&query.id=1319...

Anonymous · ‎05-20-2007

I've seen score changes 30-60 days after what you are describing. It can take that long for the creditors to send the information to the CSR's. But you should see an increase in your score when things are paid in full rather quickly once it reports.

Bad things falling off your report take 7 years from the date it happened. The date the account was opened and closing the account has nothing to do with neg. Closing the account will not help you.

Income is not on your credit report.

Message Edited by ilovepizza on 05-20-2007 12:15 PM

I would like to purchase a home help!!!!

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I would like to purchase a home help!!!!