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My wife and I bought our first home in May '08 for $149,000. We put $2,000 down and after all the final calculations and closing, the loan was $147,541 with Citi Mortgage @ 6.5% fixed. Our loan is FHA since it was our first home, and our credit was very average 2 years ago. (no baddies, just lack of history) Since then, our scores are much improved (mine=700, wife=715 FICO's). We now have several credit cards, with $0 balances, and have a nice credit portfolio continually building for each of us. Our house payment is $1,136, including our escrow.
We want to refinance to get the payment down. How can we do this and utilize our now improved FICO's, since we are FHA currently? Or can we at all?
And, is refinancing a good idea?
I am chiming in because I am pretty much in the same boat, bought my house in July 08. I don't know where you live, but how is your home value/equity. Mine is negative. In such a situation, the only thing probably available is a FHA streamline...its suppose to be a easy process, no credit check, no appraisal, etc...but it is pricey. I am waiting to see what happens with interest rates...I did a adjustible, and am paying 5.375 for 3 more years, so I have some wiggle room. I would just like to get some more of the loan paid off before I do it...I am making extra payments, just not ready...will be interested to see what other have to offer.
you can do an fha streamline refi that is not qualifying. but will have to pay your closing costs.
you can do a regular fha refi with appraisal and hopefully roll in your closing costs.
it all depends on the appraisal.
I think the days of the FHA Streamline refinance with no credit check are long gone. I was trying
to do the Streamline refinance and was advised that the minimum credit score had to be 620.
I went through the process and at the final stage was told that the bank had changed its standard
to 640 for the minimum. I was right around the score, but threw in the towel for the time being.
If anyone knows of a company that will do an FHA refinance (Streamline or regular) with scores under 640, please let
me know.
Thanks
I was told today by Wells Fargo that 620 is fine
i still hear 620 sometimes.
most lenders want 640
I'll check with my lender again. Initially he told me that 620 was acceptable (US Bank) but they
changed their standards to 640 very recently.
My mid score was 636. I asked if there was another option
and he said it didn't look like 620 would get it done anymore but that he'd look into it.
I haven't heard back from him and I've dropped it for the time being. My current mortgage is @ 6%
and getting it down to 4% or 5% would certainly help!
Thanks.
a good loan officer should be able to find 4 points.
we all have access to score simulators thru th companies that pull our credit.
I'm at 6.75 and have a perfect payment record for two years. Also a lucky 2008 buyer who missed out on that fat homebuyers' incentive check!
Yes, as my broker pointed out, my mortgage payment is less than most people's car payments (REO fixer-upper). However, my income is comparable to their teenagers', so every little bit helps!
Was originally at Countrywide, which Bank of America bought. Just bought a car (necessity), but have under 8% UTIL on cards and plan to keep it that way in order to enjoy having airbags instead of $2-3K repairs on a 16-year-old death-trap. Eventually, I plan to refi the car, too, but the house is probably easier to do at this point, I'm guessing.
I should add that I was one of many who went to the tax assessor last year (after our values took a hit) and gave a lower property value estimate. I had lots of wiggle room, as the house was worth 3x what we paid for it. We're still well above the note value, and plan to have the home professionally appraised when we do sell in a few years/after the rest of the renovations are finished, but would rather pay higher taxes than lower the home's value further. We are in a marginal area that's holding its own--sales seem to be picking up in immediate area, which is good-- and likely to increase in next 2-3 years, especially with addition of new transportation options/revitalization and slow market recovery.