Yes, that's with 1 point. ... View more

Hello everyone.   Found a lender:)  $140000 4.5% FHA 30 year fixed.  Now the hard part... finding a house and closing the deal!   EX 676 TU 649 EQ 648 ... View more

I'll do some investigating and see but I don't think so, the people I've dealt with so far haven't even looked at my file.  I have my clear to purchase certificate from my DP program that shows I've taken the required money/credit mgt courses they require, they only send you to the lenders after you have already met their requirements, so I'll just have to wait and see.  I still have a few more lenders on the list, I think if someone would actually look at my info in totality with the BK they would see that I'm not super risky, unfortunately it seems like lenders don't look at actual files anymore they look at charts and statitistics. ... View more

right now I'm going through the banks that are approved from a particular DP assistance program I want to use.  This one is a grant that doesn't need to be repaid that's $10000.  I qualify for other programs that are no interest loans, so I will exhaust all my options with the first DP program,and then if I don't find anything I will move to a broker.  I might just be trying to have my cake and eat it too.  I'm sure my file will qualify me for an affordable loan somewhere.  I'll keep you posted. ... View more

No offense taken.  FHA doesn't consider me risky.  FHA only requires 3.5% down and 24 months clean post BK history, so I do qualify under FHA, it's the lenders that I have a problem with. ... View more

As usual I seem to get caught in a catch 22.  I thought the whole point of FHA was to make mortgages available without having to come up with a large down payment.  If I use the DP assistance, it's frowned upon because it's not my money.  If I don't use the DP assistance and put a larger down payment using my own funds, it brings my reserves down from 4-6 months to 2-3 months which is also frowned upon.  ... View more

I didn't have a foreclosure in the BK. Since BK I have my auto loan, student loan, a mastercard and a walmart card all with a perfect history since 6 months prior to my BK filing. I have $4500 in savings after I put in my 1% towards the purchase price, and I qualify for local down payment assistance in my area, so only the 1% of the purchase price and miscellaneous expenses would I be responsible for, i.e. home inspections, appraisal fees etc. I've been playing around with my CC balances and my scores are no different if I carry 10% or 1% so no where to really move there. I'm going to keep looking, but it's frustrating. Nothing will change within a year for me credit wise except for the passage of time. Even the FICO simulator doesn't give me any extra points for having another 12 months of ontime payments. ... View more

I haven't even gotten to the application process, I've just been getting the stock "you have to wait 36 months after discharge date." ... View more

I was told that 640 was the new 620 by a broker a couple of months ago, I guess the moral of the story is to try and keep you score high:) ... View more

Please do not use your 401k to pay down debt.  Usually it's not worth the taxes and penalties to do this, and if times get hard your 401k is protected during a BK.  Please don't do it. ... View more

I wouldn't worry about the inquiries.  That paid collection is more likely to drop your score, depending on how old it was, than the inquiries will.  Did you do a PFD?  If not, your score may actually drop. ... View more

How did he get your info to pull your credit?  Most LO's don't want to work with someone who doesn't want their credit pulled since until they know your credit it is basically a waste of time since they can't really tell you what loans/programs you qualify for without that info.  How long did you work with them and how involved was the process. It would be weird for them to ask for your social security #, or for you to give them your social security # and not expect to have your credit pulled. ... View more

Even though it was a baddie, it could be one of your oldest accounts and helping your AAofA, therefore doing more good than harm to your FICO score. ... View more

I will be that person, wait until you close:)  So many things that are beyond your control can pop up and delay your closing, why let something you can control i.e. opening another line of credit, possibly hold you up.  If it makes you feel better, drive to Lowe's right after your closing, with new keys in hand, and buy appliances to your heart's content:) ... View more

@johnsj21 wrote: Extended 7 months to 6/30/2010!!!!!!    http://www.cnbc.com/id/33673455 Message Edited by johnsj21 on 11-05-2009 01:28 PM You have to have the contract signed by 4/30/2010 and close before 6/30/2010 ... View more

If you've spoken to a broker over the phone and let them know your situation and they ask you to go in to go over your info, GO IN:)  I started repairing my CR after BK a little over a year ago, sat down with a broker and he let me know what my options were.  As it turned out, I was already doing what I needed to do, I just needed to wait until my BK reached 2 years.  You may be further along than you think you are, your FICO score is not the only factor that determine whether or not you qualify for a mortgage and the broker could have some opportunities available to you in your current situation. If not, they will be able to tell you the things you need to take care of and a reasonable time period in which you can get it done to qualify for the type of loan that you want.  Hope this helps:) ... View more

Thanks, Mickie.  I wasn't trying to qualify for more money I just wanted my dti ratio to reflect the extra $.  I'm not going to wait 6 months for that, I'll just go ahead with my app as planned in a couple weeks.  As of 11/4 my TU is 618, my EQ is 648 and my EX has always been the highest so I'm hoping that is still the case when I apply.  I honestly have nothing else that I can do to increase my chances of approval so I'll just have to see what happens.  I'll let you all know.  Wish me luck:)   Chp7 BK discharged 11/20/07 TU 618 11/4/09 EQ 648 11/4/09 EX 636 6/20/09 - lender pulled   ... View more

Thanks kelaykay:) ... View more

Yes, that is how it works. ... View more

If this was charged off in Dec 02 than it probably has a DOFD even earlier than that and should be past the reporting time.  Do you know when you first became delinquent with Cingular?  The CA is betting that you need to have this paid before closing and will just pay it instead of disputing it and holding up your loan.  How long do you have before you intend to apply?  I would dispute it with the CRA as too old to report if you have longer than a month before you intended to purchase.  Otherwise you can see if the CA will do a PFD if you just want to get it off quickly.  If they won't play ball then you may have to wait for the dispute process to complete and the item to be removed. ... View more

If you do those three things, how much time will it buy you?  I ask because sometimes people can make their situation worse by postponing the inevitable.  I'd hate for you to spend the money trying to juggle the remaining debt obligations, only to find out 6-9 months later that you need to file for BK anyway.  Do you have the equity in your house to sell and then downsize?  You are in a situation right now where there are no really great options, but maybe declaring BK and downsizing for a year or two will leave you in a better position than you are now. ... View more

Disputing can affect your FICO score negatively.  While the info is in dispute, the disputed TL info is not taken into account for FICO scoring, so if its an older account it could decrease your AAoA etc.  Crazy as it sounds, sometimes an old baddie can be helping your score more than it hurts. ... View more

Legally your CC company can enforce all the default clauses in your original contract.  The big three being default interest rate, arbitration/court judgements, and garnishments.  All of which will increase the amount you owe substantially.  Seeing as how you are in the financial position to pay these off, I doubt the CC companies will not pursue these options to recoup their $.  I think what most posters are stating is that though you may not need credit now and your FICO score may not be important to you, no one knows what the future holds so why damage your credit if you don't have to?  You are correct in that the debt is unsecured so there is no collateral that they can take back, but you did enter into a contract to repay the money that you borrowed, so you can roll the dice and hope that they don't come after you in the 7-7.5 years until it falls off, but given the amount you owe and your financial situation, I think they will take every legal action they can to get their money back.  Hope this helps. ... View more

Theoretically they are all important, but in my real life experience the one that is the lowest is the most important.  Since we can no longer get the Experian score, the lowest between your TU and EQ could be your mid score which would be the one mortgage lenders use and you never know which one different auto and CC lenders will use.  I always assume that my EX is the lowest and work to make sure my TU and EQ are as close as possible.  If my TU and EQ are within 10-20 pts of each other and the info on my CR's from these two CRA's have similar info to my EX CR then I have a better estimation of where my EX score should be. ... View more

My experience has been that I've received a pt increase each time my util reported lower than the previous month.  I'm not sure if there is a correlation between how many pts you gain vs. the util percentage change though.  Just keep paying until you get all revolving to 0 except for 1 and have that 1 report between 1% and 9% for ideal scoring. ... View more

This sounds like your account was purchased by a junk debt collection agency.  Is the OC reporting or a CA?  In any event, dispute it with all 3 and provide copies of your discharge papers.  If you haven't already, opt out before you apply for any major purchases.  I too filed and have had different CA's attempting to collect on debts that were discharged because a mortgage lender inquiry shows up on my CR.  They figure that you might just pay it in order to secure a mortgage or auto loan because most lenders require all open collections to be paid and no disputes on your CR.  They're sneaky like that.  Hope this helps:) ... View more

Yes, it's a valid repo.  She violated the contract by not making the payments, they repossessed the car.  Even though she paid the money to get the car back, she still paid it AFTER the car had already been repossessed.  Unfortunately, bank/finance company is not reporting incorrectly.  Sorry:( ... View more

Is there any particular major upcoming purchase that you will need a FICO above a certain number?  If not, I wouldn't worry about being "FICO score poor" and the potential point drop.  It will recover.  Buying furniture or anything else using a stores 1 year same as cash/0% interest or some other deal might be more advantageous to you if you can pay it off before the terms kick in.  It's okay to keep liquid cash in the bank and make payments on something if you are not being charged to make the payments and can pay it off in the time period specified in the offer.  You may pay cash for furniture instead of using credit and a few months later you might have something come up that you need to have cash for because they don't accept credit or payments.  Sometimes what's going to be the best for you is not going to be the best for your FICO score and that's okay. ... View more