I want to buy a house

[babypowder]

Hello! I'm brand new to this forum. I'm at the beginning stage and I want to buy a house. Our BK discharge date is june 2003. I'm thinking about saving up for a down payment, but have $15k credit card debit. My current scores are 696, 683 and 701.

Any suggestions on what my first steps should be? What is the highest score available for BK still reporting on credit report? What's the best way to raise up my scores?

[Anonymous]

Welcome. 1st thing people will want to know is if those are your mortgage scores or your fico 8 scores. They will also want to know your utilization percent as that is what effects your score more than total amount, 15,000 out of 90,000 available is different than 15,000 out of 20,000 available.

[babypowder]

Those are my fico8 scores. I'm not sure where I can find the mortgage score. I did purchase the myFICO plan, but I'm still learning my way around the site. As for my utilization, I will post details soon as I'm able to get on a computer.

[Anonymous]

Mortgage scores are available in the plan they are under reports other lenders use (similar phrase) and show mortgage and auto fico scores as well.

[Anonymous]

If your BK is from 2003, that should NOT still be reported. Chapter 13 is 7 years I believe, and Chapter 7 is 10 years. Either way, it should not be reporting. As stated above, see what your mortgage scores are. Do you have other derogs? Paying down your revolving debt would get you points fast. Do you have other loans? How is your DTI?

[babypowder]

Oops. Typo. My BK discharge date is June 2013.


I have three cards and am an authorized user for three of my husband's cards.

-Mine-

Old Navy $0 / $600
Capital One MasterCard $264.99 / $850
Capital One Quicksilver $2550 / $8000

-Husband-

Discover $2110 / $5500
Capital One MasterCard $75.97 / $500
Capital One Quicksilver $1750 / $3000

[babypowder]

Also we have two car loans on my report in good standing never late.

One is a lease that will be ending March 2018.

Another is a brand new car we purchased for my daughter in April 2016. I got it with 0.90% APR for the next 6 years. This is the car loan I'm planning to pay off in 3 yrs instead.

[MugenCivicSi83]

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@babypowder wrote:
Also we have two car loans on my report in good standing never late.

One is a lease that will be ending March 2018.

Another is a brand new car we purchased for my daughter in April 2016. I got it with 0.90% APR for the next 6 years. This is the car loan I'm planning to pay off in 3 yrs instead.

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don't pay it off before you buy a house. your score will tank if you don't have any other active installment loans reporting.

[babypowder]

My Mortgage scores are 694  712  702.

Should I try and reach at least 750 for all scores?

[StartingOver10]

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@babypowder wrote:

My Mortgage scores are 694  712  702.

Should I try and reach at least 750 for all scores?

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Depends on what type of loan you are going for - FHA or Conventional.  

I suspect you are going to go for an FHA loan because of the 2013 discharge of your BK and your mortgage scores are just fine where they are for FHA. Remember, the lender will use the lowest mid-score of the mortgage applicants - so if your husband's scores are lower, they will use his score. I was commenting on the scores you posted above.

You can quickly increase your scores by paying down your utilization to less than 9% of your credit limit. Same with your husband. Right now both of you are being dinged because you have balances reporting on multiple cards. Have only one balance report and have it report less than 9% of its credit limit and you will see a jump in your scores.  

If you are going for conventional, it would be better to be above 720 if your down payment is less than 20% due to the cost of PMI.  

What do you plan to put down on the new home purchase?