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Can I get a Mortgage

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chemical360
Valued Member

Can I get a Mortgage

I am trying to figure out if I will be able to get a mortgage anytime soon and what I can do to get my scores to 620-640 range to qualify. Here is My Situation.

 

My Equifax Fico score is 600 as of 12/31/12 through Myfico. the issue on my account are as follows

A car loan that had 4 30 day late payments this happend because My wife had a baby in February so we got behind on that Payment and could not catch up untill the car was paid off in May. So I had almost 6 Years off perfect history untll the last 4 months I messed up.

1 collection for $75 for a MRI in 09

and a midland credit of $339 showing not paid date opened was 09/2010 but last activity was 12/07

3 Inq and 24% Util ( the Util is now all paid off)

I have 2 Credit cards with perfect history but 1 is only 7 months old and the other is only 2

 

My Transunion Score is 638 as of 1/3/13 the items on the report are:

Loan 4/99 $0 as a charge off

the car as a payment made after charge off 6/2012

1 Collection for $339 9/10

The same 2 CC with perfect payment and 24% Util.

 

I belive my transunion score is better due to the loan even though it was a charge off it brings my history to 13years compared to the 6 years of my Equifax.

 

I make decent money at 75,000. right now and should be going up to 80,000 in the next couple of months. My work history is excellent as I have been with my company for over 15 years. I have about 12,000 in My 401K that is able to be used as down payment (actaully I have 24K in there but can only use 50% I believe)

 

The only Debt I have is about tops $25-$50 a month for my CC. No car loans or anything else.

 

My Credit cards have Low limits one is $200 the other is $500 I am not sure if it will help if I increase those. My wife also put me on as an auth user on her card which is a $200 limit so That I show 3 open lines of credit but she also just recently got that so the history is not long only a couple of months.

 

Any advise if I will be able to get approved or what I need to do to get to where I need to be. I am looking to purchase in MA hopefully in a couple of months at least start the preapproval process.

 

 

Message 1 of 13
12 REPLIES 12
Mama-j
Contributor

Re: Can I get a Mortgage

Work on your report/score. GW those lates, send pfd for the collections, keep utl at/under 9% and you should be able to purchase in a couple of months. I am almost in the same boat as you. My EQ score was at 599 on 12/4 and now 633 (with 48% utl). Still have 1 collection to work on and 2 lates from my auto loan back on Nov/Dec 2011. My goal is to start my pre approval process by Apr and I know I can get my score to be at 650+ by bringing down my utl, which I already did just need to have report all new balances. Can't wait to see what kind of increase I can get. It's a lot of work, but it's do abale. Oh and make sure no new inquiries.


Starting Score: 2/22/12: EQ 530, TU 553, EX 528(lender). 12/4/12 (rebuilding starts)= EQ 599.
Current Score: 1/4/16: EQ 743, TU FICO 724, EX 737.
Goal Score: 750 all across.

Take the FICO Fitness Challenge

Message 2 of 13
chemical360
Valued Member

Re: Can I get a Mortgage

Thanks for your response 1 quick questions what is GW. And will places still do pfd. We have been working on this for awhile I did get my util down to 0 just waiting for that to reflect. It gets frustrating you just get to a point where you dont see changes anymore and you don't know what else to do. It does help that other people are in the same boat. Good luck to you I hope you reach your goal.

Message 3 of 13
JM-AM
Valued Contributor

Re: Can I get a Mortgage

GW = good will letters.

Yes some companies will do a PFD.

You just have to keep trying and hopefully they eventually give in to your request.

If I was you I would look at the rebuilding section of forum. Lots of great information can be found there to help rebuild your credit, sample GW letters, etc etc.

You arent that far from your goal to qualify, work on scores and see where you are at in a few months. You may be surprised and reached your goal.

Good luck
Good Luck
May all your dreams and wishes become a reality!
Message 4 of 13
webhopper
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Can I get a Mortgage

Hi and welcome to Myfico forum!

 

I think that you will be in line for an approval in a few months, as other posters have suggested.

 

 

You will find a wealth of information here!  I am going to suggest that you start the journey by reading the following threads and this may give you some ideas on how to clean up those negative items: 

 

 

What Steps Do I Take?

 

also, you probably will do good to check out the rebuilding forum for more information on how to send goodwill letters and how to do PFDs.

 

 

That will give you a great place to start!   Also you want to opt out first before contacting any creditors... to opt out go to: www.optoutprescreen.com

 

 

 

The next advice I can give is to contact and deal with each creditor one by one. If you wake all the sleeping bears at once you may not be able to deal with them fast enough to avoid a judgment being filed. Best of luck and if you use the search function to search for each of your creditors you can see how others have dealt with them successfully in the past. Best of luck!

FICO 9:
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.

Goal: Gardening!


Message 5 of 13
chemical360
Valued Member

Re: Can I get a Mortgage

Thank you both for your advise. I will try those things and hope I see improvement. I had already done a PFD for a midical bill and it did not increase my score much. Hopefully if I get these last 2 things off I will see an increase.

Message 6 of 13
clipperskipper
Regular Contributor

Re: Can I get a Mortgage

According to blogger Dan Greene of daily mortgage reports, you can.

The FHA mortgage is somewhat of a misnomer because the FHA doesn't actually make loans. Rather, the FHA is an insurer of loans. It has a published series of loan guidelines and for banks making loans which meet said guidelines, the FHA will against loss.

FHA mortgage guidelines are famous for their liberal approach to both credit scores and downpayments. The FHA will typically insure a loan for which the borrower has a low credit score so long as there's a reasonable explanation behind the low FICO.

The FHA will also allow a downpayment of just 3.5 percent in all U.S. markets.

Other FHA loan traits include :

  • Home buyer down payment of 3.5% may come entirely from "gift funds"
  • Minimum credit score requirement of 500
  • Mortgage insurance premiums paid upfront at closing, and monthly thereafter

Following the mot recent jobs report, rates spiked to a four month high, and lenders will be eager to lock at current rates. You may want to float the rate for a while.

Message 7 of 13
JM-AM
Valued Contributor

Re: Can I get a Mortgage


@clipperskipper wrote:

According to blogger Dan Greene of daily mortgage reports, you can.

The FHA mortgage is somewhat of a misnomer because the FHA doesn't actually make loans. Rather, the FHA is an insurer of loans. It has a published series of loan guidelines and for banks making loans which meet said guidelines, the FHA will against loss.

FHA mortgage guidelines are famous for their liberal approach to both credit scores and downpayments. The FHA will typically insure a loan for which the borrower has a low credit score so long as there's a reasonable explanation behind the low FICO.

The FHA will also allow a downpayment of just 3.5 percent in all U.S. markets.

Other FHA loan traits include :

  • Home buyer down payment of 3.5% may come entirely from "gift funds"
  • Minimum credit score requirement of 500
  • Mortgage insurance premiums paid upfront at closing, and monthly thereafter

Following the mot recent jobs report, rates spiked to a four month high, and lenders will be eager to lock at current rates. You may want to float the rate for a while.


Do not let articles about credit scores for loan programs give you a sense of relief that you will be approved.

 

While FHA has their guidelines on what is acceptable, it is not FHA lending you the money. The lender has their own guidelines and you will have to abide by what is acceptable to them.

 

Now if I knew any lender today approving loans for credit scores of 500 I would be a billionaire within 6 months.

Good Luck
May all your dreams and wishes become a reality!
Message 8 of 13
StartingOver10
Moderator Emerita

Re: Can I get a Mortgage


@JM-AM wrote:

@clipperskipper wrote:

According to blogger Dan Greene of daily mortgage reports, you can.

The FHA mortgage is somewhat of a misnomer because the FHA doesn't actually make loans. Rather, the FHA is an insurer of loans. It has a published series of loan guidelines and for banks making loans which meet said guidelines, the FHA will against loss.

FHA mortgage guidelines are famous for their liberal approach to both credit scores and downpayments. The FHA will typically insure a loan for which the borrower has a low credit score so long as there's a reasonable explanation behind the low FICO.

The FHA will also allow a downpayment of just 3.5 percent in all U.S. markets.

Other FHA loan traits include :

  • Home buyer down payment of 3.5% may come entirely from "gift funds"
  • Minimum credit score requirement of 500
  • Mortgage insurance premiums paid upfront at closing, and monthly thereafter

Following the mot recent jobs report, rates spiked to a four month high, and lenders will be eager to lock at current rates. You may want to float the rate for a while.


Do not let articles about credit scores for loan programs give you a sense of relief that you will be approved.

 

While FHA has their guidelines on what is acceptable, it is not FHA lending you the money. The lender has their own guidelines and you will have to abide by what is acceptable to them.

 

Now if I knew any lender today approving loans for credit scores of 500 I would be a billionaire within 6 months.


^^^Isn't that the truth!

In my opinion it is really misleading to just quote a score without quoting the other criteria needed to qualify or to fail to mention that although FHA will "allow" it, no lender will issue the loan based on their own guidelines.  It gives potential borrowers false hope when instead they could be here working on their scores and making application when they are really ready.

Message 9 of 13
chemical360
Valued Member

Re: Can I get a Mortgage

Believe me I have done my research on FHA and I know that most likely we will still have to go that route. Most lenders will not even approve you for FHA now adays with out a score of at least 640. But even reaching 640 is going to be tough as I am having trouble with the only 2 issues on my credit reprt and the people are not working with us so even getting to a 640 is going to be tough as the biggest factor I have is credit length. It just gets very frustrating I hate that these 3 numbers pretty much defines us in the lending world and none of the bills that you have on a daily basis with perfect payment do not go on reports unless you go negitive. UGH can not wait till this is over and I get my house. I will never let my score drop down again.
Message 10 of 13
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