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Ok what do ya’ll know about credit scores?

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Bret

Bret

Yoda
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Long story short I figured it was time to start getting my ducks in a row and stop renting or leasing and start looking for a real home I can call my own.

My mom hooked me up with a gal who ran my numbers and said that my credit score is almost 800 and that based on my income I easily qualify for about a 350k with my GI bill that I never used. I think I liked the 30 year loan at ~6% meant that with 0 down I’d be making about $2,500 a month payments. But truthfully I’ve got some stock I could sell and I might even consider tapping into my 401k and take a loan out on it.

Anyway I have to ask that a good score? Seemed kind of high, but I’ve got about 11 months left on my least before I have to make a discussion and I have some other options that would allow me to make between
 
bret, outstanding credit score, id suggest you not go into your 401 if it could be helped mtg lenders like to that you have one when considering giving you a loan its comforting for them to know you have a back up method of payment if you happen to lose your employment or become injured etc, and it could mean youll get a better rate. another thing to know is that while shopping for a mtg. every potential lender that requests your credit score could bring your number down lenders become suspect about why you shopping around so much. before you get your mtg. dont buy any other high ticket items i.e that aston martin youve always wanted that would also mean someone would have pulled your score, and that you now have a higher dept to earning ratio, that wont help you score either. do some homework before applying for a mtg. and if you fill out any forms for any mtg company on your computer your info will most likely go into a "pool" of lenders that will be calling your phone every six to eight seconds.
 
I'd not touch my 401K nor would I sell stock to invest in a house.....go the VA route with the most payment you can comfortably afford but keep the portfolio for the future....the housing market is still in flux & you don't want to get caught with a mortgage on an inflated piece of property when it goes soft without anything else for a backup as you enter your senior years....I almost think the days when a person could get a nest egg out of their home is over.
 
I agree with NOT TOUCHING THAT 401K MONEY. My wife wanted to 'borrow' from it to help my son with his up-coming wedding next May. I told her that we have to figure another way, as we are not touching that. I have a small savings account...my mad money for the TR3 resto...we could use some of that, coupled with what we most likely will get as Christmas bonuses and an automatic weekly deduction from our paycheck into the mad money account will give us enough to help finance the wedding... A whole six hours of madness as opposed to our retirement years. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wall.gif

Also, does that $2500/month include the expected property taxes and insurance?? If not, don't forget to include those figures, as they can sometimes be quite significant. My current mortgage payment is more taxes then principle and interest, but I only have a couple of years left.
 
Thanks gents. The gal told me it was good too, but this is all so new to me that I felt I should bounce it off some folks I trust to see if I was being given the correct 411.

Anyway like I said I've got some time before I commit to a specific home and just wanted to find out my credit score now to allow me some time to fix or contest any problems with my credit report. But luckily I don't have any problems thank goodness.

So for now I'm just going to sit on things for the next few months and start looking at the areas & communities I might like to live in. But for now I'm just happy (check that) RELIVED to know where I stand financially.
 
Can't add much more to what others have offered.

Be careful taking the advice of a LENDER when it comes to calculating YOUR debt service. They will usually want to max you out on the figures. Do not borrow a dime more than what you are comfortable with, regardless of what the lender suggests you qualify for. Figure your budget (add 10% cushion) and then approach the lender to ensure you qualify. The mortgage pros will take offense to this, but NEVER approach a lender (car, house, whatever) and ask how much you can afford. You can almost guarantee that you'll be oversold on cash.

Do NOT borrow against your 401K. If you lose your employment, many plans call the loan, which means the balance is due immediately.

Also, do not assume that you are Ok financially because you have a good credit score and qualify for a mortgage. If you have ANY credit card/unsecured debt (at all), you need to address that first, then worry about your mortgage debt.
 
Hey Scott,

Oh trust me I'm vary leery of any "too good to be true" offers - been there done that. Even if it is a deal through the lender my mother’s reality company uses. While I’d like to think that my mother would try to press for a good deal for me – when I’m ready to take the plunge I’ll do some shopping around.

As for my personal debt – currently between all of my credit cards I average about a $0.00 to about $1000 a month and like my company American Express card that I pay that off each month. So the only real debt I have is my car loan through my credit union for my 2001 truck and I’ve knocked that down well under $7K. I’ve also taken out a couple of other auto & personal loans in the last 10-15 years and always paid them off early.

All that and I haven’t had one bad blemish since the early 90’s when I got divorced.
 
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