First off, I just wanted to thank everyone for all of the fantastic advice I've gotten on here. You've made a world of difference. I'm trying to get my first mortgage. I had several small collections (less than $100 ea) and 2 big unpaid COs (Sears and Best Buy - BankOne). The mortgage guy I've been working with told me I needed to take care of all of the collections, including the COs before he could help me. So, not wanting to mess with validation for the small ones, I got them all to agree to pay to delete in writing, etc. So, they're going away as I write this. If I can't get the COs to agree to pay for delete, and validation doesn't work, is there any hope for getting a mortgage? Will a straight paid CO be enough? There are 2 TLs for one of the COs, one for the OC and one for the CA. If the OC won't help me, and I have to deal with the CA, will the OC TL be updated to reflect paid status? Thanks, Mike
congrats on buying a house! i'm happy to see the small collections going away. you would need to pay the CO's. my thought is that if the account was sold to the CA the OC should be reporting the account as sold w/0 balance. if it was assigned - the CA shouldn't be reporting a seperate TL. EXPERS HERE CAN ADVISE ON THAT PLEASE?!?! from a mortgage standpoint - as long as you have proof paid with a letter of explanation, that should be sufficient - the mortgage lender can help you get a rapid rescore once those are paid. instead of paying the OC's for deletion offer to pay in full for a "paid never late".
Re: Re: Need help getting 1st mortgage Jenz, Thanks for the kind words. I'm a single dad with 3 kids, and buying a house is going to be a gigantic step for me. We've all been living with relatives for the past 2 yrs post separation/divorce as I've tried to clean up the mess left by my ex. It's to the point where we DEFINITELY need our own space. Anyway, I'm more confused now than I was before. I read your not about how if it was sold, it should show a 0 balance and sold, and I've got all kinds of conflicting data here. Sears shows as sold on all 3 CAs with 0 balances on EXP and EQ and an actual balance due on TU. I don't, though, have a CA TL for this one. This is my ex wife's account, and I was only an authorized user, so I'm wondering if that's why the CA hasn't come after me. BestBuy shows as sold on all 3, but shows Balances and Past Due amts on EQ and TU. There's also a CA TL for the BestBuy acct with a Balance due. What do I do to clean up this mess? If the OCs are both sold, do I have any leverage to get them to clean their TLs? Should I dispute the TLs that are showing balances to hopefully get my utilization down a bit? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks, Mike
Re: Re: Need help getting 1st mortg Mortgages and FICO scores are different beasts. It's great to get deletions, hope you do, but if you have paperwork showing payment, the loan officer can do a manual over ride. One thing you may find useful when shopping for mortgages is pull your own reports with myFICO.com and save them to a PDF. Then you can email your report to anyone you're talking to w/out having a pull on your report. If you've already had a pull, you've got 30 days to shop around, they're all supposed to count as one.
Re: Re: Need help getting 1st mortg On the account where you're an authorized user, dispute with the CRA as "not mine." I agree with the previous post--a mortgage is different. The lines don't have to be deleted. If your mortgage broker told you to have them settled, proof that you don't owe them anything will be sufficient. It might not make your scores great, but you'll get the mortgage.
Re: Re: Need help getting 1st mortg So, let me see if I understand. For the OCs, as long as they all show 0 balance, then that's "good enough" for the mortgage company, since I obviously can't pay them if they've been sold off, and the OC won't talk to me. Then on the Sears acct, which I'm just authorized, I should dispute as not mine to try to get it removed. Should I try to seek out the CA in question on that one and try to pay it off so that I have something to show the mortgage guy, or since there's no TL for it, other than the OC which is "sold", should I just leave it alone? Thanks, Mike
Re: Re: Need help getting 1st mortg Ask your mortgage guy. He will tell you exactly what he needs. They will help you as much as they can. They don't make any money if you don't get the loan.
Re: Re: Re: Need help getting 1st mortg if you are only authorized user - contact sears and have them remove the account, you were never liable for it. how exactly is the other one reporting? that is where i am confused. don't worry - we'll help ya get into a house - just be patient with us.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Need help getting 1st mortg Be patient with you! Holy cow, I'm tremendously thankful for you guys being gracious with me. I'm only an auth user, so is there a particular format or template I should use to request that they remove it? The other one is messed up. On all 3, it's reporting as charged off / sold to another lender. On EQ and TU, it's reporting a balance of $2914 and a past due amount of $620. Plus, there's a separate TL from the CA that it was presumably sold to. Mike
