I have come to a standstill currently concerning 3 debts. I am wondering what the best course of action would be? I will be as breif as possible but here is the facts: Debt # 1: Bank of America account for an old credit card that was claimed in a Chapter 7 filing in 2002 and does show on my bk papers as a MBNA debt as included in bk. Was listed on 2 CRA's Exp & Equifax: I disputed this with Equifax on 3/07. It was deleted off of my Equifax report 03/15/07. I had originally disputed this debt online as IIB with Exp in 2/06 (before I became credit educated) it returned as verified later in Feb 2007. It shows on Exp as "Consumer disputes this debt" I sent a letter CMRR 03/05/07 to Bank of America asking them to update this account correctly because it was IIB in 2002. As of today 04/17/07 it remains on Experian and has not been changed. I recieved my green card back and it has been over a month since they received it. What is my best course of action to get this debt either deleted off Exp or showing correctly as IIB? If I dispute it again with Exp they will return it as "previously investigated". I like to avoid phone calls but would one be necessary in this case? ****************************************************** ******************************************************** Debt # 2 Verizon Wireless that was also included in my Chapter 7 filing. However I did the Chap 7 pro se and this debt was not listed. But I was an "no asset" case and the advice I was received is this is a legal Chap 7 included debt. It is present on all 3 CRA's as a CO'd account. Disputed online with Exp as IIB in 02/07. It returned as verified and is unchanged except it says "Consumer disputes this debt" Disputed via mail with TU and Equifax 03/07. It is unchanged and states "Consumer disputes this debt" I sent a letter CMRR to Verizon on 03/12/07 stating that I had filed a Chapter 7 in 2002 and this was an IIB debt. I have recieved no response whatsover from them although I received the green card back nearly a month ago? Best course of action? If I dispute again with the CRA's I am sure to get a "previously investigated" response. *************************************************** **************************************************** Debt # 3 Is a TXU electric bill debt currently showing as a CO. I had this service when I filed the Chapter 7 in 2002 and continued it until 2004 when I moved. After I moved I received a bill from them which I made small payments on until I completed what they said I owed and have heard no further from them. It shows on my CR's the months I paid but then shows CO after I completed paying what they said I owed. I disputed this with Exp 2/07 and it came back verified and states "Consumer disputes this debt" I disputed this with Trans 03/07 and it also came back verified with the dispute notation. I disputed this with Equifax 03/07 and it was deleted from Equifax. I sent a letter CMRR 03/12/07 to TXU explaining that I had paid the amount they said I owed after I discontinued service with them and could not discern whether this stated balance occurred prior to my bk or after I quit service. I stated I had paid them the amount they said I owed and would they please advise me of what is going on? It's been a month since I received the green card back and I have had no contact from them at all. Best course of action? *************************************************** Sorry this is so lengthy, these are my problem children at this time. I have other prebk debts like this too but I have just sent letters to the OC's on them and are awaiting results. Any advice please? This has been a painful process lol Thank you! Tegleg
Tegleg, Need a few details to help you here: 1) BoA/MBNA: When (exactly) was the Charge Off dated? BoA/MBNA sometimes only reports for about six years for credit reporting. You will have to call BoA(MBNA) and speak to the "Credit Reporting Disputes" department. You will have to "pound on" the representatives to connect you or give you the direct line, but they will give it up if you are a "pain". You may have a chance of getting BoA to delete this for you. 2) Verizon Wireless: Again, when was the Charge Off date? Again, I found with Verizon Wireless that if you keep on them, they sometimes delete their reporting. If it was not a large bill, I would do the "pleading" approach and play a "big" goodwill strategy here. 3) TXU, I would concurrently request a "reinvestigation (dispute) with Trans and Exp, do this in writing (CMRRR), and I would speak to TXU again, asking them how they "CO'd" this account. Did they ever send notice of "possibly" reporting the negative information? You can also dispute directly with TXU (in writing-CMRRR) requesting "verification" of this account and status. With a few more details, we may be able to get creative here, and find some opportunities to get these removed. In the end, with the "toughies", I have had my best success with finding the "right person" to talk with, and then being a pest until they removed it. Usually, there are little mistakes made that you can leverage to your advantage. Let's see what we can do for you.
Federal Law requires EXP to reinvestigate the item if you request it be reinvestigated. Computer scanners read your letters to them, so use the word reinvestigate in a simple letter of dispute. Also use the word " inaccurate ". All these words are keywords. Also, consider deleting the matching old addresses first. The computer uses the old addresses on the report to " verify " the account without even checking with the furnisher. Then, once the old addresses are gone, dispute again as described above. Watch out for credit repair organizations. They don't do anything you can't do yourself.
Thank you! I was beginning to think these were hopeless.... Bizwiz: The BOA/MBNA debt shows opened 8/99 and last reported is 2/07 when I disputed it and Exp verified. It is listed as a CO and shows an incorrect balance which is killing my Exp score. There is no date listed for the CO, it just has the opened date and the last reported date. On Exp where the icons are listed for the months it shows a CO on the date it was verified. Nothing before or after. I have thought maybye calling may be best. I had disputed one debt previously with Chase, they sent me a letter asking me to call, I did and told them it was a IIB debt. They said it would be updated and 2 weeks later it was deleted off my reports. The Verizon bill shows opened 8/02. The last reported dates are the dates the CRA's verified. Same as BOA, no charge off date listed. Under Exp the little icons show CO's every month and continue to do so. TXU shows opened 4/01 and last reported is the date of the verification by the CRA's. No CO date is listed. Under Exp where dates are listed with thier little icons it shows CO up to 9/04 and the OK for 10/04 - 10/05 then another CO 12/06. I had put in the letter that they sent that I could'nt even tell when the balance they say I owe occurred. I had filed for Chap 7 08/15/02 and it was discharged 12/02. I have had no repsonse whatsoever from the letters I sent, nothing except for getting my green card back. When I applied for my mortgage the MBNA acct was questioned and I sent in a copy of my bk papers which they used to verify that the account was indeed a IIB debt. However the mort company did not rapid rescore me they only used the info to send to the FHA underwriter. The mort company said I would have to continue disputing on my own to get those debts reportly correctly. I hope that helps. Thank you Bellaruss, I did delete old names and addys back in Feb 07. Equifax deleted them all but Exp & TU refused to remove my last address which is the addy I had with the above debts. I do beleive you are right, those were verified rather quickly which appears to me they were just matched with the addy. Nah, I'd never go with a credit repair service, I've already accomplished alot on my own with help received here and on another forum I haunt. Thank you for the keyword info, that is very helpful! Thank you, Tegleg
Tegleg, I'll need some time to digest your situation, and make suggestions. You are in a "sticky" place right now, (pursuing the mortgage). Some of the ideas for removing these accounts could drop your FICO score in the interim, and I don't want that to hurt your approval. Just wanted to let you know I'm reveiwing this. The good news is that you've "drawn some fouls" with these CO dates. You can use this with the OCs and inaccurate and incorrect reporting. In short, you'll be working the CRAs against the OCs! Welcome to the next level!
Allrighty then! lol Actually my FHA loan is going in underwriting now or in the am, it had to await my landlord verification of rent to come back. Do they usually pull credit again with FHA before closing? If so will it hurt to have these gone? I ask because FHA is not score driven. Thank you! Tegleg
Let the loan go through right now, focus on that. They will not pull your credit report again, the only thing they usually do is an employment check 48-72 hours before the actual closing. Some advice, since this is an FHA loan, make sure you read the entire mortgage word for word. There are some clauses in these which catch people by suprise. Since you are working on your credit, examine if there are any prepayment penalties, and if you can refinance, and when. Also, look for clauses for any improvements you make to the home, some FHA loans ADD the value of the improvement to your mortgage amount. I knew someone who added a garage to their home, and when they sold, the mortgage payback was increased by the value of the garage. So, just make sure you know what you're getting into, and make sure it fits with your long term plans. This goes for any mortgage, not just FHA. I would take a break from all the repair work, and focus on your home purchase. You've done almost everything you can at this point. If your lender is happy with everything, then kick back for a while.
"I knew someone who added a garage to their home, and when they sold, the mortgage payback was increased by the value of the garage." That meets the definition of "unconcionable".
I will do that Bizwiz as we have found a house today that looks to be just what we are looking for and is priced 10K below our max price. It's not contracted yet (Yay! we have lost 2 so far to already being contracted) It is a 3BR/2 bath with a huge lot that has a very nice shop in back with it's own road which already has my woodworker hubby groveling on the floor because it has ac & a bathroom in it. The house is remodeled, has double paned windows, and looks to be energy efficient, not like this rent house where there are cracks and holes that you can see outside! It is very nice looking and although it's on the smaller side of what we were looking for (it's 1500 SF) hubby says it would be very easy to add on to. I will ask the LO about those FHA clauses you mentioned. I didn't know that. It also has 1K less in taxes than others we have looked at and is unoccupied with the sellers already relocated to Colorado and needing to get rid of this mortgage. The lesser cost equivalates to about 100 less per month on our estimated loan costs which is totally awesome! And we heard from our LO today, our app was approved via the automated approval and has been submitted to the FHA underwriter for verification. I think our loan is "in the bag" I can't see anything going wrong at this point. They did pull our credit again today, I had no clue they would do that but it was better than previously, we now have a mid score of 648 and thats with alot of pre bk and inaccurate med collections on it. I am expecting to hit 700 or better as soon as I get all my credit repair done. Which is good because after we get a house I am going to start saving for a better vehicle and plan to try to get one next summer. One thing at a time though. I'm going to take ypur advise and sit on these right now until we close on a house. Then I'm going to make them die a painful slow debt death, lol. I am issuing them a temporary stay of execution lol. I am wondering though, if we offer asking price on the house is it possible we can ask them to pay closing costs? I have money saved but would really like to be able to use it to cover an extra months rent here, utility transfer fees and it appears we will have to buy a stove. If I can do that I can use the extra money I had saved for that to pay a whole payment ahead of time and have that applied directly to the principal. I then plan to make 13 payments a year and get the house payed off before I retire. Thank you! Tegleg
I'm glad everything is working out for you two, the house sounds great! I would ask for the buyers to pay the closing costs, since they are "motivated sellers", they will probably go for it. Also, keep your pencil sharp when it comes time for the home inspection. You can request a concession for work needed to be done. Also, I would make an offer at least 5% below what they asking. In this market buyers have the advantage. They are looking to get out of this mortgage, and will accept any decent offer. Time is the key for them, not the sales price. Don't be afraid to make a "lowball offer", you can even let the broker know (on the side) you will be open to a counter offer. Now is the time to "haggle", you've found one of those rare cases of "motivated sellers"!!
If you have an AUS approval, it should be fairly easy from here on out. With FHA, the seller can pay 6% of the purchase price toward closing costs and prepaids. They can also participate in downpayment assistance to provide the 3% which FHA requires. Ask your lender about "Nehemiah" or "Genesis." It's possible that it could be done with $0 being brought to closing...you'll still likely need to document "reserves." At a guess, they've probably asked you to show one or two months' reserves?
I am so horribly confused it isn't funny lol. Oh and we do have documented reserves because I had to send proof of all that. We will have final approval Friday pm or Monday am. I ask the lender if it was ok to start making offers and she said yes as long as I had it in the contract that it could be broken if a)financing not obtained, b) doesn't pass inspection and/or c) doesn't pass appraisal. We went to look at the house today with the realtor that was listing it. We have no realtor of our own, I would call them and then never hear from em. Very frustrating. But lender said we could scan the contract to them and they would help as best as they could. So we see the place and are very happy with it and feel that it will pass inspection and appraise correctly. We tell the realtor we are ready to talk. We meet back at his office a bit later and he has a contract ready for us, I say whoa...not going to sign that yet, we need to discuss things first. I make the initial offer: Basics: 85K asking 2K closing according to GFE 3.4K down according to GFE 1st offer was at 82.5 with seller paying closing costs. That offer is batted out right away as realtor tells me he was instructed that nothing below asking would be entertained because the sellers owe that much on the mortgage. Ok, I tell him I will have to get with my lender and think about this, we leave and go home and talk. I had already pre decided my next offer. I call the realtor and make the 2nd offer: 85K with closing costs paid by seller and down payment assistance. He asks what the quotes are and I pull out the GFE the lender showed me and stated 2K closing and 3.4K in down payment. We haggle about this because the realtor states he does not know what down payment assist by seller is. I call my lender and the lender calls and talks with the realtor. I had told the lender that if some of the costs had to be rolled into the loan I would do that if needed. So realtor calls us in a bit and says he has spoken with seller and they have counter offered: Full asking at 85K They will pay the 2K closing They cannot pay the down payment amount because of what is owed on house. Realtor says lender has faxed them a new GFE and they have made a new contract. I call the lender and catch him going out the door and he says yes, it would be good if the house will appraise for that much and he has sent the info to the realtor. We go back to the realtor and have a new contract which is the same as the old except it has a 88.4K selling cost and has that the seller will pay the 2K closing costs. Everything else is in there about financing, inspection and appraisal as we requested. We are to return it tomorrow with an earnest check to take the house off the market. The seller has agreed to the terms. He gives us a copy of the GFE and forgive me but I will list it because I am confused about it due to the fact the contract says 88.4K and the GFE says 85K. Here it is: Total loan amount 84,333 Interest rate 6.5% Term 360/360 800 Items payable in connection with loan 801 Loan orig fee 0 802 Loan discount 0 803 Appraisal fee (400) we were told this would be paid up frnt by us. 804 Credit report 12 805 Lender insp fee 0 808 Mort broker fee 0 809 Tax related service 0 810 Proc fee 375 811 Underwriting 350 812 Wire transfer 0 1100 Title Charges 1101 Closing or escrow fee 200 1105 Document prep fee 200 1106 Notary 0 1107 Attorny fees 0 1108 Title Insurance 231 Title company misc fees 0 1200 Goverment recording and transfer fees: 1201 recording fees 96 1202 City/County Tax/Stamps 0 1203 State tax /Stamps 0 1300 Additional Settlement Charges 1302 Pest insp 0 property survey 400 (we were told this would likely be current already) dpap fee 395 (??????????) what is this? estimated closing costs 2,459.00 900 Items required by lender to be paid in advance: 901 Interest for 5 days @ 15.0182 per day 75.09 902 MIP 1,246.31 Hazard Insurance 742.92 1000 Reserves deposited with lender 1001 Hazard Insurance premiums 2 mths @ 61.91 per month = 123.82 1002 Mort ins premium reserves 38.69 a month = 0 listed 1003 School tax 0 1004 Taxes and assessments reserves 3 mths @ 125 per month = 375 1005 Flood insurance 0 Estimated prepaid Items/Reserves 2,563.14 TOTAL ESTIMATED SETTLEMENT CHARGES 5,022.14 Total estimated funds needed to close Purchase price + 85,000 Loan price - 84,333.00 UFMIP/FF Financed + 1246.31 Est closing costs +2,459.00 Est prepaid items resrves + 1,316.83 Amount paid by seller - 2000.00 203 rehab cost 0 Gift from seller/down payment assistance - 3,400.00 Total estimated funds needed to close 289.14 (doh!!! is that correct?) Total estimated payment: Principal & Interest 533.04 Hazard Ins 61.91 Real estate taxes 125.00 Mort Ins 38.69 Total estimated payment 758.64 /swoon!!!! But...is this GFE ok? Are we financing 88.4 or 85K??? I am so confused and it is prob right under my nose. I am so afraid of screwing up. I have 2600 saved in which I have to pay inspection and appraisal out of and whatever I have to have at closing. I was hoping to get a frig & a stove with any money I have left but it is looking like coolers and hotplates for now =/ Any advice and I sooo apologize for the length. tegleg
You'd probably be financing 97% of the 88.4k....FHA typically requires 3% downpayment. The fees look fairly normal. Take note though...lenders aren't bound by law to stay within the numbers on the GFE...it's an estimate. Unlike an auto mechanic, where they have to get your OK if the costs increase, lenders can and sometimes do change those numbers, and buyers show up at closing and find a bunch of phantom fees suddenly appearing. Of course, lenders who do this aren't likely to get a lot of referrals and thus won't be in business long....
Hmmm so the GFE may be correct then? So what are my probable out of pocket expense besides the appraisal & inspection? Sorry I have no knowledge of this stuff. Tegleg
Are they asking for "earnest money" deposit? This would be money which is given to the seller as a good faith deposit at the time the contract is accepted. The money comes back to you at the closing, or goes toward principal reduction. Another expense prior to closing might be one years' worth of hazard insurance. I just did a closing where the borrower was allowed to pay it at closing (and the seller was paying 5% toward closing costs, so this covered it) but this might differ in your scenario. Note: if it applies to your situation, sometimes if you get your hazard insurance through the same agent who handles your auto insurance, you can get a discount in pricing. When the seller is paying closing costs, you can't get cash back if they exceed. If they agreed to pay 3k in closing costs, and the actual costs only ended up being 2k, you don't get a check for the difference. The exception would be if you had put up 1k in earnest money...the underwriter would probably want to verify that it had cleared though.
I paid a 500.00 earnest fee today. Hazard insurance I see a 700 figure in the GFE for. Just wondering by the looks of it what ballpark am I going to need to take to closing with me assuming I have already paid for inspection and appraisal at the time of closing? That will run me about 700-800 dollars. Sorry to be so dumb tegleg
Teg, It looks like they're "wrapping" a down payment into the P&SA through playing with the "Asking Price". They are "adding back" the down payment (from seller) of $3,400 to the full offer price of $85K (= $88,400). So, your "loan" should be about $84,500 ($88,400 - $3,400(down payment from seller) - $500 earnest deposit). A note in your threads disturbs me here, you noted "their" agent (more or less) would not "present" an offer of $82K (your original offer). I hope the realtor stated he would present the offer, but...he knew they would not accept this offer. Remember, market price and "amount owed" have NOTHING to do with each other! Not to het you workd up here, but if he said he would "not" present your original offer of $82K, this is illegal! Overall the fees look about right, the previous threads about coverage of closing costs by seller is good advice. There are a ton of fees that add up at closing, but DO question any fee thay you do not understand 100%!
Your lender will be able to give you a good ballpark figure...and then, hopefully a day or so before the closing at least, once the title company figures everything up, you can get a precise number on what to bring, or what you'll be getting back.
Ontrack, Agreed! I thought it was (truly) incredible, and it was a shock at the closing for this person. It came up with closing out the loan for the sale of the house. I was asked to review/help, but there it was in the "fine print", that improvements were added to the loan! The owner had owned the home for 19 years also! Talk about a double hit (paying twice for the garage)! Just another example of the need to "read every word" in the T&Cs!
I got it figured out, the GFE I posted was not entirely correct. The price of the house was raised a bit to cover down payment on my part so then the seller agreed to participate in the seller down payment assist program. They are also paying 2000 towards closing costs. With me already have paid 500 earnest money and 400 for the appraisal the new GFE shows a 500 credit to me. Not sure where that goes. The sellers have accepted our offer. The property is now under contract. Yay!! Now comes inpection and appraisal. I take it that an inspection is highly recommended but not REQUIRED for our loan? The lender is setting up the appraisal. The utilities are off in the home, who is responsible for turning them on for the inspection and appraisal? I think I have to start hunting house insurance too. I already have renter's insurance with allstate so I may call them. My payments will likely be 80 dollars less than I anticipated. I can shoot that into savings! It looks like if we close 5/16/07 our first payment will be due around 7/7/07? That would be good since I can save in June and be ready for it. I plan to make an extra payment this year to get ahead. Can you set up mortgage payments to be auto deducted from checking? I don't want to chance a late from slow snail mail. We look to be at 6.5% interest. I am unsure whether to lock in now or wait? Credit repair will be on hiatus for now till we close then I'm going to attack them again with a vengeance! Thank you! I am excited! It has been a long road from where I started, I have made much progress! Tegleg
