maine1963 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 As I have stated in my prior success story - my approval came in for SAH. My dilemma is finding a bank / financial institution that will work with me knowing my overall credit. My income to debt ratio is very low (due to being 100% VA and also receiving Social Security - so my income is not an issue. It is simply my credit score. While I was going through my disability process (VA and SSA) my bills obviously were not being paid and I have destroyed my credit. I have paid off MANY of my bills, but have a repossesion on my credit file that does not help. I would like to use the SAH grant as my down payment for land purchase / new home construction. Is there anyone out there with a pointer in the right direction for financial help? I am renting now and I am just miserable trying to get up and down the stairs and dealing with the floor plan here. Any suggestions are welcome. Greg Maine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Tbird Posted February 15, 2011 Founder Share Posted February 15, 2011 Using your va loan should help with the credit problems. I hope others chime in as I am sure you are not the only one with this problem. As I have stated in my prior success story - my approval came in for SAH. My dilemma is finding a bank / financial institution that will work with me knowing my overall credit. My income to debt ratio is very low (due to being 100% VA and also receiving Social Security - so my income is not an issue. It is simply my credit score. While I was going through my disability process (VA and SSA) my bills obviously were not being paid and I have destroyed my credit. I have paid off MANY of my bills, but have a repossesion on my credit file that does not help. I would like to use the SAH grant as my down payment for land purchase / new home construction. Is there anyone out there with a pointer in the right direction for financial help? I am renting now and I am just miserable trying to get up and down the stairs and dealing with the floor plan here. Any suggestions are welcome. Greg Maine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator broncovet Posted February 15, 2011 Moderator Share Posted February 15, 2011 Ok. I have two suggestions 1. Order your credit report and dispute any items you think are wrong. They have to remove negative items in 30 days if they cant verify them. Depending upon your state, they also have to remove negative items on your credit report more than 7 years old. Dispute any over that old. You can order credit reports from the big 3, and if you have been turned down for credit recently, you can get these free. Then, you have to wait, keep paying your bills on time and your credit will clear up. 2. Look for property with special or owner financing. Sellers are desperate to sell now, and many would much rather take payments from you than lose their property to the bank. If you see an advertised property, by owner, simply ask him/her if he can sell the property with owner financing. Some owners will, some wont. It depends on their situation. You can simply ask the seller point blank if owner financing is an option. If he says yes, then you can look at the property and probably work something out. If he says no, he has to "cash out" for whatever reason, then give him your number and tell him if he changes his mind to call you, pointing out that you will be looking at other properties and he had better not wait too long. There is nothing wrong with you telling him why your credit is bad...that the VA denied or delayed your benefits for years, but finally approved you. That is, if it is your choice to disclose that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sapper Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 This is so bizarre, because this is what I JUST went through. I'll let you know what I did. First off, my credit scores were lower than the 620 median we need to get a loan for a home here. I paid off what I could, and set up auto-pay on my loans for the credit history. I had a realtor that wouldn't give me the time of day because my scores were too low, so I tried through my credit union, and voila, they were eager to help me. I ordered my credit report through all 3 bureaus, which is free once a year. Then, I disputed just about everything that had 30 day or later payments listed, collection agencies, etc. I disputed by just telling the truth, either I was out of the country on deployment during the billing, doctor bills were sapposed to be covered by insurance and were sent to collections before I could pay them, etc. The Results... Trans Union deleted 6, yes 6 things off of my credit report. (This by the way was my lowest score) Experian deleted 3 negative things off of my credit report. (This was my highest score) Equifax deleted 1 collection agency off of my credit report. (This was my median score) When lenders are checking out your score, you could have a very high score with one credit bureau, and a very low with another. The bank usually will go off of your median (middle) score. For example, I had my Experian score at 688, but my Equifax was at 618 and my Trans Union at 604. My median score was 618, which was too low to get an average mortgage for a house. After disputing these items, my credit bumped up quite a bit. I'm still waiting to find out my scores for the after results, but already my median score with Equifax was at 649 after pulling just the first thing off. When they pull things off your credit, your scores can instantly jump. NOTE: DO NOT dispute anything that has a long credit history if it only has 1 or two 30 day late payments listed. Payment history is the key to credit, and sometimes the length of the credit outweighs having one or two late payments. About VA Home Loans: I spoke with my loan guy through my realtor, and it depends on the lender on how high your score needs to be for a VA Home Loan. In my instance, I need to get a Median score of 660. I still don't have one high enough to get one through this lender, so I am going with an FHA loan, unless of course, my credit did bump up that much. It appears to me that a VA Home Loan seems harder to get than an FHA loan, and they are also a lot pickier about the house you buy. It may be different for new construction loans, although I have also heard that they haven't been giving out new construction loans unless you have excellent credit. So after all of this, which took about 6 months to work on and get some things fixed, I was pre-approved for a home loan this month. We put an offer in and were accepted. We are moving at the end of March. (Now hopefully my TDIU claim will come through and everything will be just right. Stick with working on your credit, it can be fixed I promise. If you are not successful in working on it yourself, which can save you a TON of money, you can hire a "Credit Consultant" These cost about $600 for a 6 month term, and they will try to find loopholes in the collection agencies and credit reports to get them removed, as there are about 200 laws they have to follow to post a negative on your credit. As Broncovet has stated, they have to remove negative items in 30 days if they cannot verify them. It's worth a shot to do yourself, and save a few bucks. If that does not work well enough, go with a Credit Consultant and see what they think. Also, all of these disputed can be done right online, after verifying your identity, and I was actually very surprised that 2 out of 3 of the credit agencies didn't even take the full 30 days to finish the dispute process. Experian was the longest, taking 40 days. (If you dispute from your free annual credit report, they can take up to 45 days, instead of the regular 30. Keep your chin up, and things will work out, just stick with it. After dealing with the VA, credit reports seem like a piece of cake. ;-) Take care and good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maine1963 Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Thank you all for your replies... I have ordered my (3) credit reports and will go line by line disputing what needs to be disputed. I have also started looking for owner financing pieces of property. I will then (in about 2 months after my disputes are complete - go to the local banks and credit unions for financing on new construction. I find it hard to believe that with $65,000 down (from SAH program) that I will be denied. All of your inputs are greatly appreciated. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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