Getting a Mortgage

[Anonymous]

Ok so 8 years ago got seperated from first wife.  She delays the divorce by every means possible. Year and half later she has 100k in credit card bills accumulated, her motorcycle repossed etc.  She then claims bankruptcy.  I make six figures+  so that is not an option for me.  Anyway I have extreme legal fees because of her delaying tactics which cost me 20k.  And then I have to pay her alimony for the next 3 years.  The house gets foreclosed.

Anyway the bad stuff on my credit besides the foreclosure should be off my credit in six months. The foreclosure off next year.  Remarried to a wife with exellant credit.  So that isn't a problem.  We have car loans at 2 percent which I pay the problem is we need a new house in 2 years.  My credit score is 595.  I only will have one positive on my report when the bad stuff comes off.  Car loan that was paid off in 2014.  

Will the bad reports coming off improve my credit rating enough to get a mortgage at reasonable rate..  We will have 150k as down payment from my wifes house.  So probably will need mortgage of 300K.  

[stargazer25]

Depends if you have other good credit reporting. Best case scenario is 3 credit cards with less than a 10% Util rate and an installment loan. I would check with Capital One Prequal site and see if you can get an unsecured platinum, if not get a secured card. They are good for rebuilders. Discover is another option for the secured cards, Discover graduates to unsecured. Check with you local credit union as well. I would do this sooner than later b/c you need as much time as you can to build good payment history before you start applying for mortgages. Payment history is a big part of your credit score.

CRA's will do EE's up to 6 months prior to when they are supposed to fall off if you call it in. You will see your score raise.  There is no rhym or reason to how much of  a score raise you will get for any baddie falling off.

[rmduhon]

TU will usually do EE's up to 6 months early, EX about 2-3 months early, and EQ about 1 month early. You have time to build your credit scores up.

[Anonymous]

Ok so I applied Discover secured first figuring it would be easiest to get and was turned down.  Then applied Capital One Platinum unsecured and got approved for 500 credit limit.   And saw others said Fingerhut and applied for that and got 600 limit.   Not sure why I would get turned down for secured as that is my money. 

[Anonymous]

Settle into the garden for six months, then apply again with Capital One

Meanwhile, search here for how to grow your Platinum. You can add rewards to it in a month or two, and request a limit increase after a few months (I don't recall offhand all the timing on it). 

But take heart ... I just closed on a house last week. Modest compared to what you're looking at, but this time last year my credit was in the high 400s to low 500s. Give yourself at least a year to get your new accounts reporting positively and you'll be in good shape. 

[dt3813]

Your other hurtle is the foreclosure. I believe the waiting period for a conventional loan is 7 years after a foreclosure and for FHA 3 years. I'm not sure if your foreclosure was 8 years ago or 5 years ago. I believe it goes by the date your name is off the deed.

[cjane1]

I got a secured loan with my credit union for 500.00 and saw a difference on scores in 3 months. I would only use it for gas to keep my utilization below 9% and also paid it the next day of using it.

[Anonymous]

I read that I can get Fannie Mae loan after 3 years if I have a hardship like Divorce which I had.  I got a Kohl's card approved yesterday.  Rejected by Target it appears.  Was added as Authorized User on my wife's 25k credit card a month ago and was reported.  Looks like my Equifax shows it and my FICO went up to 647 today with them. Trans Union has not changed yet. 

Do I have to use the Kohl's and Capital One cards to help my credit or does just having them out there help? I don't really need any credit cards.  

[Anonymous]

If you don't use them they probably won't post payment history. I made that mistake with having a Pier One card. I opened it in the shopping cart so I wouldn't get a hard pull but because I never used it I wasn't getting any positive payment history on that account. I used it the other day on a small purchase in the store. I plan to pay it off but I am not positive if that will give me multiple months of positive payment or just the month that I purchased and paid off.

[rmduhon]

Cap1 will report even if you don't use it. I have no idea about Kohls