Rich---credit scores for first time home buyers

[~Christina~]

so i was wondering..my husband and i were thinking about buying a house for the first time in about 1yr or so...i'm just wondering how low of a credit score can a person have before they are denied..also how are the bankruptcy's viewed now...i have one but it has been about 5 years so i wonder how that'll affect it...my husband doesn't have a great credit score either...but all our bills our current and we haven't had anything late in over a year...so given that scenario what do you think our chances would be of getting approved..??

[Amy]

I'm no expert, but I wouldn't recommend buying a house even if you are approved with a low credit score- your interest rate will be higher which will have a huge affect on the total amount of interest that you pay.

Bankruptcies are on your credit report for 10 years I believe...

[princessbunny197]

Originally Posted by ~Christina~ so i was wondering..my husband and i were thinking about buying a house for the first time in about 1yr or so...i'm just wondering how low of a credit score can a person have before they are denied..also how are the bankruptcy's viewed now...i have one but it has been about 5 years so i wonder how that'll affect it...my husband doesn't have a great credit score either...but all our bills our current and we haven't had anything late in over a year...so given that scenario what do you think our chances would be of getting approved..??

Lender guidelines are constantly changing. In the past week several lenders have changed their minimum credit score requirement. There is really no way to say what the lenders will require a year from now due to that. As long as you have re-established your credit since your bankruptcy you should be in a pretty good spot a year from now. Most lenders focus on your credit history from the prior 24 months (again, its all determined by what the guidelines will be a year from now). Continue to pay everything on time and don't use more than 50% of your available credit card balances and you should be in a pretty good spot come a year from now. Rich can elaborate I'm sure but this should give you a good start.

[CristinaFaye]

DH and I are trying to buy a house right now. My credit is perfect but his needs a little fixing. The mortgage people we are dealing with are very helpful and after a couple of payments we should hopefully progress a little further.
Good luck!

[gunsgirl]

right now for conventional it is no lower that 720 with out penalty- with VA it may go a little lower but banks are in trouble for risky loans and have learned a hard lesson- they have become more concerned with this and are taking steps to control thier losses.

def pull your credit report and pay for your FICO score to find out where you stand.
it is wwell worth the 10 dollars.

[LittleMsSunshine]

Originally Posted by gunsgirl right now for conventional it is no lower that 720 with out penalty- with VA it may go a little lower but banks are in trouble for risky loans and have learned a hard lesson- they have become more concerned with this and are taking steps to control thier losses. def pull your credit report and pay for your FICO score to find out where you stand. it is wwell worth the 10 dollars.

WOW it has to be 720??!!!

My credit is flawless, and my score was 719 on the last report I pulled.

I don't have any negative marks on my credit.... but I'm still working on building it up.

Guess I'll keep working