@foofighter74 wrote:
@WantToBuyNeow wrote:I'd lose out on my earnest money desposits not to mention the time wasted.
The only way you wouldn't be able to get your deposit refunded is if you did something to specifically sabotage the loan. In our case, we had to get a conditional approval, and pay $5,000 down on the house to get construction started. The only way we wouldn't get that $5,000 back is if we went out and bought a new car, or $10,000 in furniture and clearly caused ourselves to get denied the loan.
If the builder actually would start construction for you, then you would have had to already clear some major hurdles. They want a pretty firm commitment from a lender that you're going to get a loan pending verification of everything you've supplied as well as no new credit, etc.
Ok that's what I was sort of thinking, that they would've denied me from starting construction in the first place when I go through the preapproval phase. Wasn't sure though. Would suck to go through that whole process, only to be denied in the underwriting phase.
Starting Score: 586 TU, 618, EX, 635 EQUpdate: The 77 EX Plus score increase wasn't from the collection being dropped. 
Pulled my recent reports and they were still there. Guess it was from just paying down credit cards.
However, I finally just had enough and decided to call them instead of hoping they see my letters. Surprisingly, there were pretty nice and helpful! Better yet, they agreed to remove my collections from CRA reporting! Yay!!! 
They said it should take a week or so, so I'll be sure to pull my reports again then. I feel like a whole lot of weight has lifted off my chest. I'm pretty sure with this removed and my credit payments that my scores would easily go over 640 (It was 618 middle).
Whew.
I'll post again when I confirmed everything is all clear. Thanks for all the help!
@Startfromwithin wrote:This is kind of nuts... I'm dealing with the same exact thing!!
Over the weekend, I have identified the property I want to submit an offer on. I paid down my CC last month and have done a couple other things to tweak my CR, and Sunday afternoon, I received a MyFICO Score Watch Alert that said my score DROPPED!!
One of the reasons is data being reported in error by a creditor. The creditor yesterday submitted the corrections, and sent me a letter on their letterhead for an UW that explains that I "Paid in Full" and was "Never Late".
The second entry that dropped my score was a new collection. It's from an old car insurance company. I switch car insurance companies. Now that placed a $118 collection on my reports for what they are calling an 'early cancellation fee'.
Of course I had no knowledge of this fee... nor did they ever call or mail me regarding this balance.
In any case, it's a NEW collection. I spoke with the Collection Agency explaining that I have no knowledge of this debt, but that I'd pay it in full if they deleted it. They said 'no way!'.
This sucks. I'm nervous about securing a Pre-Approval letter. Everything else seems to be as it should.
I'd call the CA again and start begging. That's what I did today and made it sound like I was in dire straights (not that far from the truth). Guess they took pity on me.
If you are standoffish about it they probably ignore you. From what I read from others, a PFD is like a goodwill letter, so you should present your case towards them like one (ask for forgiveness rather than demand).
Finally, the collection dropped from all three reports!
My scores are now 681 TU and 668 EQ. EX dunno, but it should be good.
I still have about $4000 (or around 20% utilization) that hasn't been reported yet, so my 45% util now should get down to 25%. In about a few weeks, I should be able to start shopping for a loan/preapproval and start looking at houses. Woohoo!