A big problem with my FICO scores being so low was utilization. I just recently (within the past few weeks) got a few of my cards paid off entirely, and my Amazon Store card already shows my FICO as being 760 now. I'm not too worried about my scores, but......
1) I do have 12 inquiries on each bureau from trying to take advantage of BT offers, CLI's that took hard pulls, etc. Is it even worth applying with this many inquiries? My realtor says that should be fine, they're more worried about DTI, but my realtor isn't a lender. Could just be trying to get me to go forward to get a sale.
2) I know most people say don't do ANYTHING credit related if you plan on getting a mortgage in the foreseeable future. I have a car payment with a $328 payment and a 6.9% interest rate. Is it worth taking another pull to try and refinance my car for a lower payment for DTI, and better interest rate, before applying for the mortgage?
I’ve read online that lenders like to see 43% or less DTI or you basically have no chance. Is that percentage before mortgage or with your mortgage factored in?
My stats for what you asked are as follows....
Inquiries....
Transunion: 5 in the past 12 months, 1 in the past 6 months
Equifax: 9 in the past 12 months, 2 in the past 6 months
New Accounts....
2 are 11 months old
1 is 5 months old
1 is 4 months old
All others are over a year. I’m 10/24 right now (giving you an idea of my past 2 years)
When it comes to my income and DTI, I have a car payment at $323, and my Discover which the minimum is roughly around $170 a month. I bring in $3300 a month take home with no overtime. (Usually get about 8-10 hours OT a paycheck but that’s not guaranteed income I guess.) I do have a Tally credit line (hidden tradeline), so TECHNICALLY that shouldn’t show in my DTI or on my credit reports, but I’m sure they’ll see it when they look into my bank statements so I’m not sure how that would be factored in.
My SO doesn’t have the best credit, so we’re not sure if the lender would include her on the loan. If they do, add another $308 car payment, but she brings our income up to about $5000 take home a month.
My stats for what you asked are as follows....
Inquiries....
Transunion: 5 in the past 12 months, 1 in the past 6 months
Equifax: 9 in the past 12 months, 2 in the past 6 months
New Accounts....
2 are 11 months old
1 is 5 months old
1 is 4 months old
All others are over a year. I’m 10/24 right now (giving you an idea of my past 2 years)
When it comes to my income and DTI, I have a car payment at $323, and my Discover which the minimum is roughly around $170 a month. I bring in $3300 a month take home with no overtime. (Usually get about 8-10 hours OT a paycheck but that’s not guaranteed income I guess.) I do have a Tally credit line (hidden tradeline), so TECHNICALLY that shouldn’t show in my DTI or on my credit reports, but I’m sure they’ll see it when they look into my bank statements so I’m not sure how that would be factored in.
My SO doesn’t have the best credit, so we’re not sure if the lender would include her on the loan. If they do, add another $308 car payment, but she brings our income up to about $5000 take home a month.
@CreditInspired wrote:
@itsxluigi wrote:
I’ve read online that lenders like to see 43% or less DTI or you basically have no chance. Is that percentage before mortgage or with your mortgage factored in?
My stats for what you asked are as follows....
Inquiries....
Transunion: 5 in the past 12 months, 1 in the past 6 months
Equifax: 9 in the past 12 months, 2 in the past 6 months
New Accounts....
2 are 11 months old
1 is 5 months old
1 is 4 months old
All others are over a year. I’m 10/24 right now (giving you an idea of my past 2 years)
When it comes to my income and DTI, I have a car payment at $323, and my Discover which the minimum is roughly around $170 a month. I bring in $3300 a month take home with no overtime. (Usually get about 8-10 hours OT a paycheck but that’s not guaranteed income I guess.) I do have a Tally credit line (hidden tradeline), so TECHNICALLY that shouldn’t show in my DTI or on my credit reports, but I’m sure they’ll see it when they look into my bank statements so I’m not sure how that would be factored in.
My SO doesn’t have the best credit, so we’re not sure if the lender would include her on the loan. If they do, add another $308 car payment, but she brings our income up to about $5000 take home a month.Thanks for add’ info.
Can you get that Discover card paid off?
What is your gross pay? Have you been getting OT for 2 yrs? What is min pymt on your other CCs and loans if any? Also what is min pymt on hidden tradeline?
Please list out her scores, gross pay, min pymt on her CCs with balances and any other loans.
Sorry, had a busy day yesterday and didn't have time to get on and respond.
The Discover... I'm slowly getting it paid down, but no, I have no way to have it paid off in full within the next few months.
My gross pay is $1,600 a paycheck guarateed, (every 2 weeks/no overtime) with a guaranteed bonus of $208 a check on top of that. I don't know if a "bonus", even though guaranteed all the time, can be considered in the loan. On top of that, I get a guaranteed 5 hours of OT a week, but usually it's closer to 10, just not guaranteed 10.
Minimum payments, my only CC left is the Discover with a minimum of roughly $170 each month, and my car payment is $323 a month. That's it for loan payments. The minimum on the hidden tradeline is $600-700 a month (not reported to the bureaus, not sure how that will affect it).
As for her stuff... She's in the process of a rebuild right now.
She doesn't have a card or a way to actually get an up to date score. She has 2 credit cards, both paid off, one bank and one store card. I have her as an AU on some of my cards to help her scores. So she has $0 in credit card minimums, a $308 car payment, and a $255 debt relief payment. She does have some dings and collections from back in the day, but they're slowly aging off. The last time she got her score (given to her in a letter when her credit was checked for something), it was around 540. Her gross pay is $1040 every 2 weeks, minimal OT here and there, but nothing guaranteed and nothing huge.
@CreditInspired wrote:Thanks for providing additional information.
This is what I have (you and SO)
- Gross: monthly $6,170 ($3917 + $2,253). I included $208 guaranteed bi-weekly bonus. I did not include OT because you didn't say whether you earned it for the previous 2 consecutive years.
- Debt: $1,706 (that $600-700 monthly hidden tradeline will have to count even though it's not on your credit report. As you stated, it will show up on your bank statement so it will count). What is SO's debt relief payment? When will that be paid off?
So here are my suggestions before applying for a mortgage:
- First, you have to wait 12 from last new account. Mortgage companies do not want to see any new accounts 12 months prior to applying for a mortgage.
- You said SO has dings on her report. She needs to get those derogs taken care of either by doing goodwill letters or paid for delete.
- I'm sure you realize that your DTI ratio is really high. Work on getting that hidden tradeline and Discover card either paid off or at a minimum lower than 28.9%.
- If your 4 new credit cards have a balance, please pay them off and stop charging on them. If possible, also work on paying that debt relief off.
- Don't apply for any new credit while preparing to get a mortgage.
I meant to ask if you and SO have been on your job in the same field for 2 years?
Is either one of your cars almost paid off?
I think 12-18 months is doable if you can pay off the Discover, hidden tradeline, debt relief, and clear up any baddies on SO's credit report.
GL2U
The OT has been consecutive for the past 2 years, but I did take 3 months off from this job about a year ago so I don't have any pay stubs during that time frame to show the OT. This is why I didn't include it. Her debt relief payment is that $255 payment, and she probably has less than a year left on that.
- I didn't realize that about the 12 months from newest account. I didn't plan on opening anything else in the meantime, but that's good to know.
- Yes, she has some derogs. Mainly late payments from this debt relief program. (One of those ones that tell you to stop paying everything so they have leverage in settlements.) Her father also passed recently, and apparently her name was on his cable/cell phone accounts somehow, so those payments went to her without her knowing, and they ended up in collections. The realtor/lender we talked to a few months ago actually told her NOT to touch those collections until after, because the older they are, the less effect they'll have. They didn't want her restarting the "timer".
- I do realize our DTI it high. I was hoping this hidden tradeline would help since it's not on my credit report, and later on I realized the whole situation about the bank statement. I'm currently about to make about $2500-$3000 in payments a month towards debt, either towards the hidden tradeline or Discover.
- The 4 new cards do not have a balance. For the past year or more I have definitely not been adding anything to the balances of these or any other cards. I do still use some of the cards, but I PIF a couple times a month to even keep a balance from reporting. The new accounts were mainly for utilization padding, trying to get my score higher to be able to get pre-approved for a consolidation loan.
- We have both had our same jobs for 5+ years. We've both moved around within the companies (I started as a laborer and am now in the office, etc) but our employers haven't changed.
- The cars are a no-go on getting paid off anytime soon. At the rate we're going, probably 2-3 years. I have about $12,000 left and she has about $8,000 left and I feel like getting the credit cards and other higher interest loans are more important, so the cars were last on our to do list.
@CreditInspired wrote:Thanks for providing additional information.
This is what I have (you and SO)
- Gross: monthly $6,170 ($3917 + $2,253). I included $208 guaranteed bi-weekly bonus. I did not include OT because you didn't say whether you earned it for the previous 2 consecutive years.
- Debt: $1,706 (that $600-700 monthly hidden tradeline will have to count even though it's not on your credit report. As you stated, it will show up on your bank statement so it will count). What is SO's debt relief payment? When will that be paid off?
So here are my suggestions before applying for a mortgage:
- First, you have to wait 12 from last new account. Mortgage companies do not want to see any new accounts 12 months prior to applying for a mortgage.
- You said SO has dings on her report. She needs to get those derogs taken care of either by doing goodwill letters or paid for delete.
- I'm sure you realize that your DTI ratio is really high. Work on getting that hidden tradeline and Discover card either paid off or at a minimum lower than 28.9%.
- If your 4 new credit cards have a balance, please pay them off and stop charging on them. If possible, also work on paying that debt relief off.
- Don't apply for any new credit while preparing to get a mortgage.
I meant to ask if you and SO have been on your job in the same field for 2 years?
Is either one of your cars almost paid off?
I think 12-18 months is doable if you can pay off the Discover, hidden tradeline, debt relief, and clear up any baddies on SO's credit report.
GL2U
I have been getting consecutive OT for the past 2 years, but I did take a break from this job for about 3-4 months roughly a year ago. I don't have any pay stubs during that time frame so it would be hard to prove continuous OT.
Her debt relief payment is the $255 payment I mentioned in the previous post. Should be paid off in less than a year at this point. They're down to the last bit and are working on the final settlement.
- I didn't realize that about the 12 month thing. I wasn't planning on applying for anything else anyway, but that's good to know.
- Yes, she has some dings on her report. Mainly late payments due to that debt relief program. It was one of those programs that pretty much tell you to stop paying everything and let it go to collections, so they have leverage on settlements. She also has 2 small collections from when her father passed, with bills she didn't realize were also in her name. (She had a phone on his account, etc. Went and got her own phone afterwards, but apparently her name on his account went on her collections). Our realtor actually told her don't touch stuff like this, because they're so old and you don't want to risk resetting the "timer".
- I was really hoping that hidden tradeline with Tally was going to help with the DTI issue, and didn't realize until afterwards about the whole bank statement thing. It still helped because it got me down to 17% APR instead of some of the highs I had (25%+). That is being worked on though. I'm roughly able to throw $2500-3000 a month at debts right now (was slowing down because I was saving up for a down payment).
- The new cards DO NOT, and WILL NOT have balances. I do still use most of my cards, but for the past year and a half now, everything has been PIF multiple times a month so balances don't even report to the bureaus.
- We have both had our jobs for 5+ years. Sure there has been moving around within the companies, but the employers have stayed the same for that long.
- Cars... balances are about $13,000 and $8,500. Those are our last priority on paying off because the interest rates are so much lower than the credit cards.