advice for heading in the right direction regarding home ownership

[sprmario]

Your advice sucks. You will not absolutely positively get a good rate with a mid-600s credit rating. At that level you are considered sub-prime and will get a miserable rate. Every time you request credit, your credit score goes down. Requesting a loan that you know will be crappy just to get the free report is stupid when you can get the free report anyway.

Getting the "loan you want" is a stupid goal. There are all sorts of people right now that got the "loan they wanted" and are in the process of being screwed because what they wanted is not what was good for them. A lot of people have interest only loans, short intro period ARMs, and even negative amortization loans. They got the house they wanted then, and now they might lose it due to ARMs adjusting and their principal payments starting.

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Wow, this thread is filled with terrible advice. To the OP, your goal is to buy a home, right? Your goal is not to have a clean credit report. So, start by going to your bank and applying for a loan. Or, if you prefer, go to well-known mortgage companies.

a) If they don't approve you, you can get the credit report they used for free - the info will be on the denied letter.
b) If they do approve you, but you don't like the interest rate or the terms, you can still get the credit report for free.
c) If you get the loan you want, great, goal is halfway there. Now, go house shopping.


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[ElaineMonster]

Super Mario,

Not all the advice in this thread is bad, but there's quite a bit of it. (Unless I'm misreading sarcasm).

Actually, you can get a decent loan even if you're FICO score is in the mid 600s. Hmm... I know a girl whose score was in the high 500s and she got a fixed rate at 6.5% for her home. Of course, now that she's a home owner, her score is in the high 700s.

I'm not saying he shouldn't clean up his report, I'm just reminding him that's not the goal. And he's just wasting time if he focuses on fixing his credit. Repairing a bad credit report can take months, even years. Getting a decent home loan just takes the right mortgage company.

And the advice about a secured credit card is just silly. If he really wants a CC on his report to show a good payment history, he can easily get a non-secured card, maybe even at a bad rate, and just pay it off each month. (The rate doesn't matter if you don't carry a balance, remember? But this is a guy who probably still has a few money issues and probably shouldn't have any extra available credit right now. He needs to buckle down and stick his money in a house.)

The OP should be spending more time learning about loans and deciding what he wants rather than repairing his report. I am NOT suggesting an ARM; I am suggesting he go talk to a lender or three, or pick up a book about buying a home.

[Sniper]

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I'm not saying he shouldn't clean up his report, I'm just reminding him that's not the goal. And he's just wasting time if he focuses on fixing his credit. Repairing a bad credit report can take months, even years.

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His credit problems are behind him... he should have responses from the credit agencies within 30 days. There really is no reason for him to delay getting this stuff cleaned up.

[sublime]

just to add something.

i HAVE an unsecured VISA thru the credit union i belong to (which was industry specific, and i don't work there anymore. they let me stay a member anyways) which has been paid on time AND IN FULL for the past 3 years. i STILL have a score of ~600.

i have to go print up my reports tomorrow and then mail in some disputes (just negative info, even though the accounts are PAID).

Elaine, getting the letters certified was a great note, thanks. since i plan on buying in vegas, maybe i can have you and ed mentor me in the home buying process [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

i guess i make too much to qualify for a first time buyer, but i will of course exhaust all avenues.