Old credit issues and getting a mortgage - I just want to cry and scream.

[Anonymous]

So to make a long story short - My husband and I ran into a rough patch, and after fighting long and hard in an ongoing custody for our daughter (technically my step-daughter) we were drained financially from lawyers fees, etc. trying to get custody through the lovely city of Philadelphia. Apparently, its harder to prove a daughter should stay with her dad - even if the mother is actively on drugs...ughhhhh what a mess that was - but needless to say we lost A LOT getting custody of her, and that's ok, because we now know she is safe.

The part that is just awful is now we are REALLY trying to move, like YESTERDAY.  Everyday we stay here our property value falls even lower, and our neighborhood has gotten so bad, i afraid to even let my kids play outside. 

Right now, our credit sucks - to put it lightly.  Even though that financial hardship was a couple years ago, we just cant get our credit together and i dont know what to do?!?!? Our mortgage is paid on time, car payment, on time, student loans, on time. - BUT because we had a horrible run in with the court system we feel stuck.  We make great money and have all the documentation needed, and have plenty in our savings. 

This is torture!  I did all the MyFico score changer things and basically there isnt anything we can do?  Just wait?  Just wait until that horrible credit/financial crisis is just more dated??  Waiting scares me so much because we then probably have to pay to leave this damn house and neighborhood!

Really just want to get our kids in a better neighbiorhood, but apparently because we had a rough patch  - thats not going to be possible.  Any suggestions please?!?!?

[leahkline86]

Why don't you rent elsewhere until you can obtain a mortgage? What are your mortgage scores? What about income, assets, etc? 

[Anonymous]

Not sure where we could rent.  In any neighborhood outside of Phila, they really don't rent many properties, and if they do the prices would be so high we would probably lose more money doing that then staying here.  Our income is sufficent, we both do pretty well and have a savings.  The plan was to continue to save and pay bills on time and then move - however it doesnt seem to matter that we are paying everything on time.

We have lived in our home for about 8 years and the neighborhood has went down really fast in last couple years. Basically anywhere in Philadelphia is bad these days.

[leahkline86]

There are many people here who can give great advice, but we need details about your mortgage scores, income, assets, etc. Please see the sticky thread about information needed to find out if you can be qualified for a mortgage. 

[Anonymous]

Our scores are coming in between 550-570.  i am being told because we dont have any "current" credit - only bad history, with only car payment and student loans and of course our current mortgage current on our reports as active and paying as agreed. We make around 150 annually and owe about 130 on our current home, which is probably what it is worth now, despite the money we put into it.  Our only assests would be this house, our savings, and probably some of our retirement.

[StartingOver10]

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@jeanna123 wrote:

Our scores are coming in between 550-570.  i am being told because we dont have any "current" credit - only bad history, with only car payment and student loans and of course our current mortgage current on our reports as active and paying as agreed. We make around 150 annually and owe about 130 on our current home, which is probably what it is worth now, despite the money we put into it.  Our only assests would be this house, our savings, and probably some of our retirement.

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^^^ I don't understand how you don't have current credit because you do have a mortgage, a car loan and student loans! I am skeptical of your source that says you have no "current credit".  Was this a mortgage person or someone else? 

Have you actually pulled your FICO mortgage scores here? If not, then pull the 3 B reports and look at your mortgage scores.  

It is true that increasing scores requires repair of the "baddies" and rebuilding with new good credit. But your tradelines that you have now (mortgage/car/student loans) should be helping you, not hurting you.  You might consider a credit card or two, but lets table that until we find out where you stand now, 

When was your last late on any of your accounts? 

Are your student loans in repayment status or deferred?

[Anonymous]

We were told from a mortgage broker that our credit was "light". We haven't applied for credit cards or anything, mostly of out fear because at one time we had credit cards, etc. and as soon as our finances were hit, it literally felt like we were being attacked by collectors. i guess we have been just working on saving, and if we don't have the cash - then we don't buy it.
I really don't understand either, I feel like we should be getting some positive credit back. Haven't been late on anything in a little over a year. Both our Student loans are in repayment.

[Anonymous]

Oh and yes those scores, 550-570 are from this site, I just pulled them couple days ago.

[shols44]

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@jeanna123 wrote:
Oh and yes those scores, 550-570 are from this site, I just pulled them couple days ago.

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Jeanna123,

Pull your credit reports from all 3 agencies. You can get them free once a year from annualcreditreport.com. Review them for inaccuracies and baddies. The baddies you should be looking out for a collections, judgements, past due accounts, chargeoffs, ect. 

Once you have gathered the info suppressing your scores, you will get help in coming up with a strategy to deal with those. It seems like you have several positive tradelines but no revolving accounts. That can be easily remedied, but I think finding baddies and key suppressors is the best place to start. 

[StartingOver10]

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@jeanna123 wrote:
Oh and yes those scores, 550-570 are from this site, I just pulled them couple days ago.

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Are they the FICO 8s or the FICO mortgage scores?  I am asking because I think your FICO mortgage scores will be higher than your FICO 8 scores (which is what this site provides unless you get this report:  http://www.myfico.com/Products/FICO-Score-3B-Report/

But do as the pp said:  go to annualcreditreport.com to get your actual CR from each bureau to begin to work on your credit