Thanks in large part to many of the good people on this board, I was able to qualify for a prime rate mortgage with a mid-score of 680. My other scores were 692 and 665. Thank you all for your help. My mortgage broker tells me I was right on the cusp between prime and non-prime (?) and that one point in the wrong direction and I would not be there. So, we found a house and we're going to close on Feb. 7. Downside: the credit scores he pulled were on Dec. 7. In the meantime, I've noticed something appeared on one of my reports that dropped my 680 score to 665. Damn it. My prime rate has been locked in and we're preapproved and have gone through automated underwriting. Question: Will anyone be pulling my credit again? Do I need to worry about this? What can I do on such short notice? My two other scores have risen to 706 and stayed the same at 665.
Some lenders do pull a report at closing. You could dispute the account tradeline online and hope it is marked in dispute or by some miracle it is deleted before closing.
Good advice by Apex; definitely dispute ASAP. Investigate what the new item is, and go after it. Many lenders do another credit report pull 48-72 hours before the closing (as well as employment verification), just to make sure nothing has changed.
Any clue as to what this 15-point drop might do to me during closing? Would it kill the whole deal? Might they look the other way? I guess I'm not too clear on the process.
Depends on the underwriting requirements and score thresholds. It could kill the deal (unlikely) or increase your rates.
There are too many factors in a mortgage review to say one way or another. If you think you are "on the edge" of approval, it may. But if you have strong factors such as loan to value ration, income to debt, etc. it may not. Then again, they may not check your reports...it does happen.
Chances are that item popped up because JDBs lurk for just that reason ... waiting for the FA/CREDCO or other mortgage-coded pull so that they can put the re-aged TL back on and have the consumer over a barrel ... they either get paid, kill the deal or both. Fighting may do little good at this point. PFD might work ... work quick for a quick delete if you're going that route. I'm assuming you don't want to let the house deal not go through and then sue them for your damages ... you want the house!
Good point, it's "amazing" how these things pop up when you're near closing on a house. They know they have leverage on you on this point in the process.
They tried that with my husband. It was something that had been discharged in BK over a dozen years ago, but when we went to refi it popped up. Too bad for them. What they got for their trouble was a strongly-worded letter from the Office of the Judge Advocate of the US Army. I qualified for the mortgage on my own, we took his name off of the loan and proceeded with the loan. Unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky.
Hi, Thanks for your inputs. This actually was something that I paid off a while back, ($215 to Verizon through Debt Recovery Solutions). It appeared on my Experian report, but not EQ and TU. Three days after my broker pulled my credit it appeared (12/10) on TU. My scores are now 706 (EQ) and 665 for both TU and EXP. Closing is on Feb. 7 and I have found a couple of small things I'm challenging with the hope of getting one of them to give me a 15-point boost. I don't have any debt I can pay down, with the exception of student loans. Thanks for your help.
How long ago was it paid? And does it show as paid (if it's not showing paid, waste no time giving them h*ll!)? Placing a TL that wasn't there ... after you pay it ... not only seems like a dirty trick, but I bet if someone went looking they could find at least one arguable violation of the FDCPA and write a nutcase that would get the TL deleted off both reports.
i might take that advice. It was paid off in August. It appeared on one report in Sept. and the other in December. (THis is the one that's hurting me) Thanks for your help. Who would I send the nutcase letter to? Can someone point me to an example of one that works? (I've seen the one on this site, but it seems so old. Anyone got any version that's been working?)
Hi, I was told today my loan file was given conditional approval. I can't get a hold of my broker. Any one know what this means? What might the conditions be? Is it still likely that they will pull my credit? Thanks JG