Needing to refinance but having no luck?

Can't comment on the refi, but...

On the cards: You need to get those balances down ASAP. That's killing your debt-to-available-credit ratio, which is key to your score. Either paying down the balances or getting additional available credit [which you would not charge up, so it remains available credit] would help your ratio here.

On the book club collections: Those are killers, score-wise. Deal with them as soon as you can. What have you done about them so far?

On the second car, what are you looking to buy? You don't need a brand new one, ya know. A sub-$1000.00 beater would get hubby back and forth to work for a few months or more. And you likely wouldn't need to go deeper in debt to get it. Look for one for sale by an individual, and have it checked over by a mechanic before you buy it. I'm on my fourth year driving a '93 Plymouth Voyager I bought for $900. I have less than $1,500 invested, including all repairs since I've owned it.

Also... You said you were trying to get your score up to a 700. Where are you now?

Thanks for the responses, I'll answer your questions as I can ...

I know I have to pay down my debt, but what I am making is just b-a-r-e-l-y (actually not quite) paying our bills and I am always a bit behind. We turned off our cable, internet, etc, don't go out to eat ever, grow our own vegetables, have our own chickens for eggs, don't drink or smoke or go to the movies, don't buy clothes, basically everything I make goes to pay our mortgages, gas (which is really hurting us now), food and utilities. When my husband starts bringing home a paycheck it will be possible to start paying down the cards, one at a time.

I'm afraid to ask any of the credit cards for additional credit as I don't want to be turned down while getting another strike against my credit. But yes that would be an ideal solution.

My scores are 602, 611 and 636 from what the report the mortgage broker sent me says.

I sent debt verrification letters to the company, one letter for each account.

On a car, we just need SOMETHING, but again have no money to buy one. A $200 payment is easier to come up with than a $1,000 lump sum, but it would drop us in bigger trouble financially.

Agggghhhhh what to do? I always say I want to win the lottery but I don't buy lottery tickets!

How much debt do you have to the income you make? The NV home may be a problem with lower scores byt the one you live in may be doable if the debt to income is low enough.

Even with the scores you have. Once your husband gets the new job it should be easier. Because he has been in training/school for it you can count it (2 yrs total needed for training)

The NV home will require a higher score because it is a non owner but the loan to value is very low.... I know the market out there stinks right now but that is a whole lot of money you could probably use if you sell. You would probabl;y do better investing into some lower priced homes near you and renting them out creating a positive cash flow situation... it would take being landlords but may be worth it?

Brian

Between our 5 cards we owe about $11,700 which is just about at their credit limits.

I bring home $800 every 2 weeks.

The NV mortgage is basically paid for by rent paid on it, but then there is the taxes and insurance which puts me about $250 a month into the hole on that house.

The MO mortgage is easier to deal with as it's "small", but it takes a bit more than 1/2 of my monthly pay for the mortgage, taxes and insurance. The water and electric are another $100 or so a month.

So as you see, I have about $450 to spend on gas, food and car insurance, and I almost spend all of that just on gas so we are really getting into a dire position at this point.

We both commute 20 miles each way in the same car but it is a gas guzzler but like I said can't get into another car until we have something to pay for it with, hence needing a loan of SOME sort.

We have no other debt other than owing about $1,000 to our vet, feed store and mechanic.

Can you please explain what you mean about "counting" his training time? Are you saying that some loan companies will give us some leeway on my husbands work history?

I would never be a landlord if it wasn't my brother and friend, it is not a headache at all axcept for financially. That property was supposed to be our nest egg but if the market was any better I would sell, we might decide to put it on the market now anyway just to see what happens.

Thank you all for the help provided so far, please any more would be really appreciated.

Sounds like your debt-to-income ratio is what is really hurting your scores. Also, the MO mortgage @10.25% is ridiculously high.

Any chance you could borrow the money from family to get your CC down. This would help your scores at which time you should be able to refinance and pay them back. Just an idea.

I understand the struggle of living paycheck-to-paycheck. Hopefully your husband will be re-employed soon.

yeah the 10.25% loan was a last ditch effort last year that was supposed to pay off all of our debts and put us back on track (which it kinda did), but without him working to cover that new bill, it just spiraled us out of control again.

I wonder if calling Accredited and Wells Fargo about refinancing those loans would be an option? Do loan companies do that sort of thing, or once they have it do they not care?

I think that since you already have loans with them, they may not be super likely to want to refinance. However, on the other hand, if you haven't ever been late and they want to keep you as a customer, you might be able to tell them that unless they can do something for you, then you will have to shop around and find someone else who can.

Also, in regards to the earlier posts about asking your current credit cards about a higher credit limit, you said that you didn't want to have them ding your credit further. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think if it's a current creditor, it shouldn't show as an inquiry or "ding" on your credit report. Your current creditors can run your credit report anytime they want to anyway, and it doesn't show as an inquiry. I think it would only be if you applied for a new line of credit with a new company that it would show as an inquiry on your CR.

If her current creditors pulled her CR, then it would be a soft inquiry, usually shows up under "inquiries not seen by others." The code AR will be next to the inquiry, which means account review. Usually these do not count against you.

There are 2 main issues to focus on for her: one is to get her debt to income down, which can be done by paying down her credit card debt to around 30% of her credit limit. This should quickly improve her scores. The second, is when her husband has a job, include his income in the mortgage application.

how long does he have to be working to be able to include his income?

I had tried around Christmastime last year to "upgrade" my Sears card to a Sears Visa, they denied me, and it shows on my credit report in the "may impact your credit score" column. The request that I made to increase the credit line a couple of months later does not show anywhere.

The credit line increase request probably doesn't show because it was just a request to an existing creditor on an existing account. The upgrade request probably shows because you were actually requesting to open a new (different) line of credit.

I'm not sure how long he would have to be working to include his income, but most mortgage companies want to see your last two paystubs when you apply for a loan. However, instead of that, they could just send an employment verification form to his HR department. It would probably depend on the lender and their specific requirements.

I am an independent contractor so I had to send my tax returns for the past 2 years, and he had no income then. Would they possibly "figure" it in now that he is working?

More than likely they will consider his income.

Yes, now that he is working, you should be able to get his income added to your application. Call your mortgage broker and ask what documentation you will need to submit and how long your husband will need to be at his job. Also, you might ask whether with your higher income now, you might be able to get a loan without having to first bring your credit score up to 700 (although it is hard to get loans with lower credit scores now, so it may be that there just isn't anything available).

how many weeks worth of paystubs do most mortgage companies need to prove income?

I worked briefly as a loan processor several years ago, and at that time I believe we usually required the two most recent paystubs. However, loans were much easier to get back then before this whole subprime/mortgage crisis. I'm not sure what would be required now.

well here's my update now, some good, some bad, skip reading if you don't want to hear me whining!

We caved in and bought a second car that gets 3x the mileage as our truck, so the truck is parked now and we are driving the new (used) one and already are seeing a difference at the pump. Drawback is we now have a car payment but the savings at the pump will pay for that easily.

The unknown RJM collection was removed from all 3 CR's, I am still working on the paid Palisades collection that they are STILL showing as "Paid in Settlement" rather than "Paid in Full".

My mother-in-law was visiting from England last week and she saw the unpaid vet bill on the fridge and took it upon herself to secretly pay it, on top of leaving us $300 cash as a gift which paid a few bills for us for the month (no wonder we love her so much!)

My husbands job has been put off another few weeks (or so), so we are really sweating things now. But pushing the employer is the last thing we want to do as it's my husbands dream job and he has put 2 years into this career and we have already sacraficed so much, but to say I am sleeping well at this point would be a lie.

I am probably going to look around for a second job that I can do on the weekends, I have to do SOMETHING to start bringing some more money in. Problem is, I have livestock and a vegetable garden (that we rely on to eat) that is neglected during the week when I'm working and with that and the housework, laundry, cooking for the week, the dogs, etc, the weekends are already busy from dawn to dusk with chores so I just don't know what else to do.

I raised the deductibles on my house insurance to $2,500 and on the new car to $1,000, dropped the truck to liability only, lowered the uninsured motorist coverage and dropped medical on the auto insurance.

I still haven't paid the kids' life insurance policies, they have a few months before they would terminate but as I've had them for years and they are planned to be gifts when they "grow up", it's something I feel they need long term so I am worried about those. I skipped payments for the past 2 years as well so they will stop "paying for themselves" in a few months.

I called all of my credit cards and asked about increasing the credit line. Sears said yes, but only went from $250 to $350, but at least that was something. Chase and Capital 1 said no, Discover said they periodically review and raise and consumers can't request increases.

My husband and I owed the Immigration department $540 back in February to lift his conditional permanent resident status, now we have received a notice that his status has been rescinded as we didn't receive the money and the form so the new priority is getting that paid plus whatever fines they are tacking on. As if I didn't have enought stress as it was!

I spoke to a couple of Nevada realtors, they said the market was worse now than ever before and they didn't recommend listing "at this time". But I am going to tell the tenant oand my brother that we are going to HAVE to raise the rent some, but as they live paycheck to paycheck too, I'm not sure if they can afford it either without bringing another roomate (and whatever problems they bring with them) into the home.

I already owe my brother $1,000, sister $1,400, father-in-law $1,000 and mother-in-law $1,500. And none of them have the money to miss for long, so I have to start repaying them soon. My brother can probably be guilted into "forgiving" me the $1,000 I owe him as he knows that I'm out so much money every month by keeping that house, but I haven't tried that tact yet.

I got something in the mail from Quick Quick Loans offering loans from $1,100 to $3,500 at the horribly disgustingly high interest rate of 96% and I would have said anyone even CONSIDERING getting a loan like that was a fool. BUT that money would save us from real immediate trouble, please someone either talk me out of considering the Quick Click Loan, or tell me it makes sense for me in our current situation?

One GREAT thing that I'm really jazzed about is I have finally made enough posts to qualify for a Debtcc check of $10, that realy made my day when I saw those points click over 1000!

have I whined enough yet?

PLEASE don't get that loan! It may seem like it will solve some short term problems, but at that interest rate, you will NEVER get it paid off and your long term problems will just increase.

Is your husband currently not working then? Can he take care of the livestock, garden, and some of the household responsibilities? Or can he maybe get a weekend job?

You've got a lot on your plate. I hope things start improving soon! Good luck!

He's not working for $ but he is interning as a physical trainer, he trains from 7 am to 3 pm, then has to wait for me to get off work at 6:00, then we go home, deal with our dogs and the daily chores, and he falls into bed exhausted at 8 or so, but I can't hardly sleep with all the stress I feel. On the weekends he interns most Saturdays and mows the yard (we have 5 acres) and does other yardwork and repairs things I break on Sundays. The animals are mine and he doesn't really help me with them, but I enjoy them and they make me feel like a farmgirl :)

If I didn't know how hard he worked and how fried he got I would probably be resentful, but that isn't the case. Sacraficing now will make our lives better in the future, that's what I keep telling myself at least!

Wow! I hope his paying job starts soon so that you can start sleeping at night! Good luck!

Oh and I forgot to mention that both of our mortgages have not been paid for July yet, I haven't been 30 days late yet but the past 2 months I have paid them on the last possible days ...

firs toff the renters in the 600k house should be paying everything if they want to live there. if not find people who will pay plus make a few bucks. you should never have to pay into a rental property. do that and thats going to be 250-300 a month you can put on the credit cards. if you are getting by now then with your husband getting a job most of that should go to bills to pay the credit cards down. good luck

I know, it's just awkward but it's something that has to be done *sigh*

FYI - Quick Click loans is worse then Cash Call . . . . They are serious about collecting and will sue you in a flash for the balance if you default. And their interest is the same as Cash Call.

What about Prosper dot com? I read ALL of the threads on here about them and they seem to have really helped some people, other than one person who was unhappy with how their forum was run regarding non-payers and those who did not get a loan from them. Of course mine might not be accepted either, but it might not hurt to try and it sounds like a MUCH better choice than quickclick et all.

But two questions ...

1.) How much should I apply for? I don't think that I should borrow enough to repay ALL my debt (over $10k) as when my husband starts being paid for working we can whittle away at it. BUT with the one really high interest card, maybe I should? But that is $7,500. But then I also don't want to borrow such a small amount that it doesn't make much of a dent, which is the intent. Should I try and cut each card about in half to bring the used percentage down so that I can work on refinancing the house?

2.) What interest rate should I ask for? $7,500 of my debt is at 29%apr, $2,500 is between 16-17%APR. I have cleaned up almost all of my credit, I only have a couple of items that are sticking, but they are all paid. No new collections for several years. No late payments on credit cards at all, and 12 months without being late on my mortgage. BUT 18 months ago I was 150 days late which is BAD I know.

Thank you for any guidance!

Prosper is a great choice. Only hard part is getting people to bid on lending you the money.

Check things out there. See if your state has a cap on interest. How good is your credit? Look at other loans that are nearly funded. That should give you an idea about how much you could borrow and actually get.

Make sure your "ad" is attractive. Make sure you stress your plan for repayment. I'm sure because of the economy there are many more potential borrowers then lenders out there, so it may be difficult to get your loan funded. But it's worth a try!

well it's up there, my credit came back as High Risk because of the high balances on my cards, the Palisades collection still being there, and my ex's tax bill (that I paid) ... well my fingers are crossed!

Here's my update this week ... short and sweet

My prosper dot com loan did not fund, and only had one bid. At least I didn't have NO bids, I would have really been depressed then!

My vegetable garden is producing lovely and the chickens are laying like machines so I'm able to pay for animal feed and gas for a week which is awesome. And having my own tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, green bell peppers, hungarian wax peppers and beans is such a joy. The corn, watermellon, ambrosia melon, and strawberries are still growing but not ready yet ... I can't wait!

My husbands "boss" has still not given a firm beginning pay date, but my husband spoke to a friend about a part time job that he might be starting on Monday. So that is grand news!

I have gotten approved for a credit card that has a balance transfer option so that I can move some of the balance from my high interest card over.

I have joined a million & one survey groups and a busily answering away. No immediate cash of course, and it won't be a lot, but something is better than nothing!

We have been eating a lot of tuna and chicken which is fine with me but my husband hates tuna, but I have finally closed my ears to his whining and it doesn't bother me anymore to not hear him rave about my cooking.

I have some things I am going to post on Ebay Monday, I'll compile everything this weekend and hope they will go well. If not, oh well.

I guess that's it for now!

well here's my fall update

my husband finally agreed to get a paid job, but it is 5pm-2am 3 nights a week, so we hardly see eachother and now I am having to drive the gas guzzler 2 days a week. And with gas prices down to $1.59 that car payment being paid for by not having to pay for expensive gas is not as much of a reality. But I expect gas to start creeping up, so no big deal, and we did need a vehicle.

I have an atorney who filed against Palisades a couple of months ago, she said it would be 3-4 months if they agreed to settle, longer than that if they wanted to fight it out in court.

I still haven't paid the kids' life insurance policies, I had to make a choice about bills and those, and maybe my boss will pay a Christmas Bonus this year?

I called all of my credit cards and asked about increasing the credit line and reducing interest rates. Sears and Chase said no to both, Capital 1 said yes to both (hoo-rah!) Discover still said they periodically review and raise and consumers can't request increases. They will be the FIRST card to go when I am in the position to axe cards!

We still have not dealt with the immigration thing, which is going to become a big problem if he wanted to go home to visit or for an emergency. But again it is not something we can pay right now.

I talked to my tenant finally last month and starting 12/1 he has to start paying $1,500, as well as start fixing it up to put on the market in the spring. We just can't do it any more, even if it has to go at a loss.

We have not started repaying any of the personal loans to our family members which is stressing me out.

I have resisted taking any payday loans out, which feels good as I had never done any before and it was my desperation tempting me.

I guess that's really it for now.