first time buyer

Personally, I would never buy a house with someone I'm not married to. That is just my personal choice, too many things that can go wrong and then if one or the other stops paying, then the other one is stuck with the debt.

It really depends on your scores. Your best bet is an FHA loan which requires 3.5% for a down payment and a 620 mid score.

I am also trying to buy a house, I am rebuilding my credit (currently 590) and rebuilding my wifes as well, we have a few items in collections, I know w/ FHA you cant have collections, but my question is does the wording matter after I pay off the collection? In other words if the credit report says "paid collection" is that satisfactory to qualify?

You can have open collections and still get an FHA loan with certain conditions. Some of the general ones are as follow.
1) If the collection is over 12 months old it does not have to be paid/closed
2) Some lenders use a cumulative approach and say if you have a collection that is over $2,500.00 it has to be paid prior to closing of they say you can have a total of x amount then anything over that amount has to paid prior to closing.
I closed a purchase recently where my customer was told by Countrywide that they needed to pay off over $16,000.00 in collections before they could close.
I was able to close them without having to pay off any of the collections so it depends on the lender.
If you have the ability to pay off your collections, I recommend that you negotiate a paid for delete agreement. This will be the easiest way to increase your scores in the short term. If you simply pay them off and wait for them to update on your credit report you stand a very real chance of actually lowering your scores.
Feel free to contact me if you need help or info.

Hey, this is interesting to me. My credit score is 490 right now. I have a car payment and three more credit cards. I have been with a debt collection program for over a year. Thats why my score is two low. But I will be with done with all of my credit cards and will only have a car payment of 282.00. My monthly income is 3,000 take home. I am prior military so I have an opportunity to use my VA loan. But the thing is my credit score is so low now. Will they even give me a loan? I closed all of my credit card accounts a year ago and finishing them all off in a couple of months. How do I get my credit score back up fast?

With a VA loan you still have to show your credit worthness. Meaning, your credit still has to qualify. I would recommend that you start disputing your credit report. It will take a few months to get it back up.

How do I dispute my credit reports. All of the bad accounts I have?

How do I dispute my credit report?

There is a forum on here that explains all that. There is also a dispute letter you can use.

This is a hard topic to address because there are a lot of factors from credit to income as well as credit you already have and how much debt you currently owe. It also depends on the lender you are talking to.

Check out the Credit Report Dispute forum to get details on how to dispute items on your credit. This is the best place to start and get on the right track.

Myself Rocky! I am new here in this forum.
I just want to say hello to all. I am glad to be a member here.I get much valuable information here.

Thanks

Hi mando228,

You can file disputes directly through the Credit Reporting agencies. Their websites are "www" + their names + ".com"

Have on hand any evidence you may have in your favor.

You said "debt collection program". Did you mean "debt settlement program"?

There is no fast way to clean up your score. Accurate info will not be removed until the SOL period. It will actually take about 1 to 2 years after you are done settling your accounts to clean up your credit score, but if you get a Secured card and take out a small loan (you can borrow against savings, retirement savings, etc - or buy some jewelry at a pawn shop and take the payment plan [it is reported as a loan]). That is the fastest way: responsible use of NEW credit.

Here is the Federal Trade Commission's page on Credit Repair for more assistance.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Guys, this really helps. I went through a debt settlement program for one year. I am about to finish paying my biggest credit card of 11,000 and i will finish the last two in the next couple of months. My credit score has dropped to 490. I don't know if will go up or not once all these debts are settled but I will try disputing and the other stuff recommended on here. Thanks again everyone.

I have a 699 credit score. Will this be good enough to get a good rate for a fist time home buyer. Thank you.

You should know that a settlement will ruin your credit score. It stays on your credit almost as long as a BK does.

Normally you need over 700 for a good rate. Not far to go!!

And - that's true. And it's harder to recover from than a BK.

Not necessarily. Some companies do give a hit for a credit score being below 700. However, where I work, as long as your over 620 yet get the same rate as someone with an 800 score.

It depends on the lender and what their guidelines say.

Just a word of advise for anyone wanting to improve their cedit score Do not send the credit bureaus proof that you paid off a collection that only gives them what they need to keep the account on your credit report for the 7 years believe me I found this out the hard way. They have to investigate the dispute and if they can't verify it they have to remove it you have a better chance of having it removed if you don't send them the proof. Be diligent and allow atleast 4-6 months to see decent results.