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Real Advice on preparing to obtain a mortgage

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Real Advice on preparing to obtain a mortgage

The 5% decrease is the reason for the alert. The score change simply means your score has changed at some point since the last alert, its just providing an updated score. For people with thicker files scores can change daily, it would be an content bombardment of emails if the slightest score change produced an alert.

As I and others have stated the product really needs a disclaimer or some better explanation as to when and why alerts are created.
Message 11 of 15
DollyLama
Established Contributor

Re: Real Advice on preparing to obtain a mortgage


@RSLockett wrote:

 

 

Per your request, I have the following balances

 

Credit card  = $2900 paying $350/month

Installment  = $2100 Paying $150/month

Student Loan = $4,420 paying $98/month

Auto Lease = $2239 paying $339/month



What are the credit limit/high on these accounts, so we can figure a more accurate individual and total utilization? Is that one credit card or mulitple CCs with just the current balances and total monthly payments? If so we need a break down of each card. Line of Credit/ Current balance. 

 

I would highly suggest that you receive all 3B mortgage scores, as many use the middle score of the 3. 

Message 12 of 15
HeavenOhio
Senior Contributor

Re: Real Advice on preparing to obtain a mortgage


@RSLockett wrote:

Thank you for the reply.  It is the score that comes from FICO Scorewatch, which I believe is Equifax. I am not sure what version it is.


You're getting the Equifax FICO 5 mortgage score, which isn't a bad place to start. Smiley Happy

 

You're going to want to see your reports from all three bureaus, though. freecreditscore.com will give you a nice Experian report and a FICO 8. The Experian FICO 8 is valuable in that it's used in a lot of lending situations, but it isn't used for mortgages. Credit Karma will give you Equifax and TransUnion reports updated weekly, but they use the VantageScore model. You can effectively ignore the scores as they're rarely used in lending situations.

 

At some point, you'll want to see all of your mortgage scores. You can get them by subscribing to myFICO. Go to this link, as the scores and reports will update monthly:

 

http://www.myfico.com/Products/FICO-Premier-3B/

 

The product on the above link beats the offers on the main myFICO product page as it offers monthly updates rather than quarterly. When you subscribe is up to you. If you don't mind the $29 monthly fee, go ahead and subscribe right now. Otherwise, time your subscription so it starts after you've shaped up your scores.

Message 13 of 15
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Real Advice on preparing to obtain a mortgage

Great responses from Heaven and Dolly.

 

Yes, as I suggested earlier, we need the amount you currently owe and the amount that the loan was originally for.  Your monthly payment doesn't matter.  I'll give you a template again for what we need:

 

Loan 1.  Balance = ____   Original amount = ____

Loan 2.  Balance = ____   Original amount = ____

Loan 3.  Balance = ____   Original amount = ____

etc.

 

We need the same thing for your credit cards.  That would look like this:

 

Card 1.  Balance = ____   Credit Limit = ____

Card 2.  Balance = ____   Credit Limit = ____

Card 3.  Balance = ____   Credit Limit = ____

etc.

 

You may have only one credit card, in which case just add a note indicating that, but still give us the balance and credit limit.

 

Great advice from Heaven regarding myFICO Premium.  You want to make sure you get the "Premium" flavor and not the "Ultimate."  The ULtimate will only give you your mortgage scores every 90 days.  You need them monthly, given your very tight timeframe for buying a house.  (Otherwise I'd recommend not buying your scores until you had improved your credit profile.)

 

Bear in mind that your mortgage scores will be changing over the next three months as we help you get your profile into much better shape.

Message 14 of 15
RSLockett
Member

Re: Real Advice on preparing to obtain a mortgage

Thank you to everyone that responded to my inquiry. I obtained a pretty good mortgage and have now moved into our new home. I appreciate the thoughtful advice, and even though I didn't respond to some of the more specific requests for information, I was able to use many of your suggestions. Thank you all very much.

Bob

Message 15 of 15
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