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My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)

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dannyb407
Contributor

My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)

Well, I need to get my thoughts out there, so thank you in advance for being willing to read my story.

 

I'm 30 years old, married with a 3 year old son. A year ago I was transferred from Philadelphia to Lakeland, Florida with my current employer, and now we're thinking about buying a home. About me, I was, until about 4 years ago, very irresponsible with my money. I was (and still am, but my wife controls me) a huge spender. I never had a penny in savings, I was a pleaser, and couldn't say no to anything or anyone. This turned to be a huge problem for me financially, and I got myself into debt, took out credit cards after college, and with my 30k a year job, couldn't afford to pay any of it off. So, ALL of it went to collections, and I even had a judgment (still in my credit report, help?) from Citibank, even after I paid it 8 days after the judgment was served I haven't been able to get it removed. I have anywhere from 5-7 old collections in my credit report that are sitting there, but have already been paid off. I've gotten a lot more responsible, now make 65-70k/year, and I'm able to afford a home. But all of this stands in the way. I bought a car about a year ago in October and haven't been late 1 day, but my score hasn't gone up. My fico (Equifax) score is 576 as of today. I have two awful first premier bank credit cards, but as of now I still need to use them to cover unexpected expenses, so unfortunately I haven't been able to lower the balance on these (Which I know is probably the first thing I have to do). I've been late up to 90 days due to some unexpected expenses so that's not helping me either. 

 

I'm sick and tired of the apartment life. Can't wait to own my own house, and I'm on the way, I know, but I know I want to be at 620+ so I can get a mortgage loan. I've thought about doing credit repair, but I figured I would write letters to all the old creditors and credit card companies  I had accounts with a goodwill letter so they can remove these items from my credit reports. Aside from doing this and lowering my two credit card balances (oh yea, both of them are $300 credit limits), what else would you recommend doing to get my score up to 620+ in 3-6 months? 

 

I would apply for a store credit card and maintain a $5 balance on it but I really don't think I'd be approved, nor I want to do it because it's just another inquiry that will sit there if I get denied. 

 

What are your advices? Comments? Concerns? I'm here to stay and will respond to your comments so please help me out. 

Message 1 of 14
13 REPLIES 13
dannyb407
Contributor

Re: My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)

Yes, forgot to mention my Experian credit score is 528 as of now. Equifax is 576. Unsure about Transunion.

Message 2 of 14
webhopper
Moderator Emeritus

Re: My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)

Hi and welcome to myfico forums! Generally speaking; you can go to the courthouse and file a motion to vacate the judgement. The fact that you paid before the court date means that you no longer owed a debt; so the judgment isn't supposed to be there. Next... start addressing those baddies one by one.

 


You will find a wealth of information here!  I am going to suggest that you start the journey by reading the following threads: 


 


What Steps Do I Take?


 


That will give you a great place to start!   Also you want to opt out first before contacting these 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 3 of 14
dannyb407
Contributor

Re: My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)

Thanks for the link! Well appreciated. I've completed the Opt-out process.

Message 4 of 14
jeffriesde
Valued Member

Re: My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)

Not to be a downer, but if you are having trouble paying your current bills and keeping your CC's PIF each month, then how can you afford a house?  

 

Do you have money in savings for a downpayment and closing costs?  If so then you should use some of this money to pay down you CC utilization.  Lower UTIL could raise your score some.

 

How long has it been since your last late payment?  A lot of mortgage companies won't approve you with lates in the last 12 months.  A few will only look back 6 months, but will require LOE for all lates and derogs on your report.


Starting Score: EQ 549 (5/2012) | TU 594 (7/2012)
Current Score: EQ 618 (9/2012 Lender Pull) | TU 648 (9/2012 Lender Pull) | EX 599 (9/4/2012 Lender Pull)
Goal Score: 700


Take the FICO Fitness Challenge
Message 5 of 14
fishbjc
Senior Contributor

Re: My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)

Hey Danny!  Congratulations on becoming fico responsible.  Stick around here and READ all the posts.  ASK questions.  FOLLOW advice.  

 

You WILL get there and everyone is here to help you get that home...and you WILL! 

 

Heart  Congratulations on taking these steps!!!!

 

Message 6 of 14
fishbjc
Senior Contributor

Re: My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)

Can you get into NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION?  They've been lifesavers for many of us!!!  If not, what about another credit union?  Can someone put you on the cc as an AU? 

 

Work those collections!  Good will them and good will them again......

Message 7 of 14
dannyb407
Contributor

Re: My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)

About Navy Federal my brother in law is in the Navy so I am pretty sure we can get in there! I have written the GW letters and have brought down both $300CL cards to $5 balance. I have $15k in savings for a house and I'm  not touching that until it's time. I do have lates,but not anymore! I understand I might wait at least 6-12 months, but I'm okay with that! 

Message 8 of 14
webhopper
Moderator Emeritus

Re: My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)


@dannyb407 wrote:

About Navy Federal my brother in law is in the Navy so I am pretty sure we can get in there! I have written the GW letters and have brought down both $300CL cards to $5 balance. I have $15k in savings for a house and I'm  not touching that until it's time. I do have lates,but not anymore! I understand I might wait at least 6-12 months, but I'm okay with that! 


 

If you can; then definately get involved with nfcu... they are freaking awesome. They saved me 3.5% interest when I refinanced my used car. Gave me 15k LOC with a checkbook to pay my contractor with 22k cash rewards visa signature 1.79% interest on new car loan. They gave my husband a platinum mastercard which now has a 7.5k limit... it was opened in may. I'm switching all my banking over to them in January.
FICO 9:
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.

Goal: Gardening!


Message 9 of 14
ceejx
Established Contributor

Re: My Story and my struggle to get a house (LONG)


@dannyb407 wrote:

Well, I need to get my thoughts out there, so thank you in advance for being willing to read my story.

 

I'm 30 years old, married with a 3 year old son. A year ago I was transferred from Philadelphia to Lakeland, Florida with my current employer, and now we're thinking about buying a home. About me, I was, until about 4 years ago, very irresponsible with my money. I was (and still am, but my wife controls me) a huge spender. I never had a penny in savings, I was a pleaser, and couldn't say no to anything or anyone. This turned to be a huge problem for me financially, and I got myself into debt, took out credit cards after college, and with my 30k a year job, couldn't afford to pay any of it off. So, ALL of it went to collections, and I even had a judgment (still in my credit report, help?) from Citibank, even after I paid it 8 days after the judgment was served I haven't been able to get it removed. I have anywhere from 5-7 old collections in my credit report that are sitting there, but have already been paid off. I've gotten a lot more responsible, now make 65-70k/year, and I'm able to afford a home. But all of this stands in the way. I bought a car about a year ago in October and haven't been late 1 day, but my score hasn't gone up. My fico (Equifax) score is 576 as of today. I have two awful first premier bank credit cards, but as of now I still need to use them to cover unexpected expenses, so unfortunately I haven't been able to lower the balance on these (Which I know is probably the first thing I have to do). I've been late up to 90 days due to some unexpected expenses so that's not helping me either. 

 

I'm sick and tired of the apartment life. Can't wait to own my own house, and I'm on the way, I know, but I know I want to be at 620+ so I can get a mortgage loan. I've thought about doing credit repair, but I figured I would write letters to all the old creditors and credit card companies  I had accounts with a goodwill letter so they can remove these items from my credit reports. Aside from doing this and lowering my two credit card balances (oh yea, both of them are $300 credit limits), what else would you recommend doing to get my score up to 620+ in 3-6 months? 

 

I would apply for a store credit card and maintain a $5 balance on it but I really don't think I'd be approved, nor I want to do it because it's just another inquiry that will sit there if I get denied. 

 

What are your advices? Comments? Concerns? I'm here to stay and will respond to your comments so please help me out. 


Just to give you some encouragement, a year ago I was in the exact same position as you, minus the judgement, but with a worse credit score. And I close on my first house this coming week! So just keep at it, keep pushing to get those baddies removed, even if it takes you emailing or snail mailing the CEOs of collection companies. I got one 60 day late off that the finance department of the bank was ADAMANT they woudln't remove, but persistence was key and they removed it finally. Good luck! You'll get lots of encouragement on this forum.

Message 10 of 14
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