I'll try to not make this so long but I tend to give as much details as possible. TL;DR at the end since this will probably be a long post which may or may not be relevant to the loan.
My wife and I have been searching for homes to buy and thought we had more time. We currently live in a house that is under my parents' names, and we agreed to put it up for sale on March 2019. We priced it higher than the average in the neighborhood due to the numerous upgrades. Over time we've slowly lowered the price but still higher than the average. It wasn't until the past month or two where we've had numerous people tour the house which is probably linked to the low rates. Anyway, an offer was sent to us and we accepted. Now we have until the end of October to find and purchase a house or look into short-term apartments or possibly stay with family.
Usually this would be great news. However, during the holidays in 2019 I had lost my job. I was trying to balance my minimal savings to make payments that I felt were necessary - basically utilities and bills (credit, car, groceries, etc). Well our barely there savings account drained fast. I had one card go into 120 day late. My credit scores to a big hit. I believe Credit Karma showed me having around 680, and fell to 530-550. I called Barclays once as I felt incredibly embarrassed and couldn't make the call early on when I lost my job. I kept send $50 a month but that wasn't really doing much except me throwing away money. Interest and late fees kept adding up. Barclays closed the card in March of this year with a balance of $3,115/2,400. Yes, this card was nearly maxed out and the interest and fees pushed it over.
With the current house in the process of being sold, I'm trying to fast track my credit scores. I got a new job July and started to pay off my debt. I sent a payment for $700.46 on July 25th but was hit with the late fee as my payments are due on the 3rd. I know I sent in the request twice for COVID assistance. I'm guessing since the account is closed I don't qualify. Either way I sucked it up and moved on. Today I made my last payment to them to clear the account balance. I don't know if a GW is going to work with Barclays but I plan on firing up with basically the same story I'm posting here. I'd like to A) have the lates removed and acknowledged that they are not required to do so and legally have to report, and that this will be beyond courteous and in my eyes sort of a prayer come true (yes, I know it's kind of reaching out there but it's kind of true), and B) possibly reopen the account on the basis of having a long-term account, (without having to do a hard pull on my account). I know option B is also reaching out into thin air but heck why not.
Ok, back to the VA loan (sorry, I know I include way too much lol). Besides the recent negatives of 30, 60, 90, 120 being reported by Barclays I also have 2 collections accounts under Portfolio Recovery. I PIF for one PRA account in the amount of $210.43. The other one is for $2,339.52. Their website shows I can either PIF or savings offer and pay $1,754.64. I made another post about this in the repairing credit forum but my main concern is whether I PIF or settled for less and how this will affect our loan approval (if the lates haven't already knocked us out of consideration). I know PRA's website shows they will delete the TL after 30 days or contact them if it isn't deleted. It's just our timeline has been fast fowarded so 30 days is pretty much 2 weeks before we have to move out of the house we sold.
Looooonnnnnnng story....but what are my chances of being approved for a VA loan? Can we be pre-approved, and when the underwriting begins hopefully my scores will be updated and increased?
TL;DR
FICO 8 scores as of 9/10/20
EQ - 601
TU - 573
EX - 607
Mortgage Scores
FICO 2 - 602
FICO 4 - 675
FICO 5 - 632
Debts
- All CC paid
- New vehicle financed in February. Monthly payments of $685.97
- Lost job November 2019
- Recent 120 late due to job loss
- Paid off all debt except the last PRA account of $2,339.52. Confused if PIF or settled will matter with loan approval. PRA will delete TL in 30 days (hopefully sooner than later). I want to this today!
- Current house in the process of being sold (offer accepted and going through the rest of the motions)
- Given until end of October to move out
Thank you kindly members!
