citygirl8

The details are on their website. There is no minimum income requirement. You or the house you buy have to meet one of three requirements, though: Your income is less than 80% of your area's median income The house you are buying is in a census tract where the median income is less than 80% of your area's median income The house costs less than a max amount NACA has set In my city with very high median home prices and a very low max amount--outside of the few qualifying census tracts, the NACA home price limit is about half of the FHA loan limit for this area--it's really unlikely that anyone could meet the requirements. Only about 10% of the census tracts meet their criteria. Some of them are so far out from downtown, you might as well not pay the premium for a city address, and in many you'd still need to make about 150% of median income to afford most 3-bedroom homes. And if you don't make that kind of money, there's little you can afford at all, no matter where it is in the city. Getting rid of PMI is a huge monthly savings and being able to use money you've set aside for closing costs to buy down the interest rate is also a big deal, so it could be a great deal--if I ever found something that met the requirements. They also don't really work in this area, so it would be a big investment to travel to get qualified. Unfortunately, because they work so slowly, you have to get qualified first. But if they have an office near you, you're in a market that will tolerate a slow closing, and they have realistic criteria for your city, it can be a great deal.

By 'investors grabbing up the homes you can afford' do you mean that the houses you are submitting offers on are selling for more than you can pay (either your max comfort zone or max approval)? If so, I hate to be so blunt, but those are not the houses you can afford. The houses you can afford have even lower asking prices, because then the selling price will end up somewhere around what you can afford. If what's happening is that you can afford the selling price, but sellers aren't choosing your offer because you're going up against all cash or flippers who waive inspection, etc., then hopefully your agent can figure out a way to package your offer that makes you appealing. But honestly, there's a lot of cash in this market and it's incredibly competitive. You're probably going to lose a lot of offers. I am super sympathetic. I am in a very similar position--but in one of the countries hottest real estate markets. The median home price here is double what it was five years ago when I was able to start putting away money for a down payment. The FHA limit here jumped 13% for 2018 just from 2017! I'm trying to be zen about the whole thing. I don't think housing prices will drop, but I think the increases will flatten out eventually (a couple years maybe). In the meantime my savings will keep growing and hopefully my income will increase (at least some). It's depressing and I don't want to keep putting it off, but I can't make the housing market be something it isn't. Maybe I'll go borrow someone's kids to take a "family" photo and write a really compelling letter to the sellers, because my dog is super cute, but I don't think she can cut it on her own in this market.

Just thought I'd a little more detail on all this, since I've just looked up every one of these organizations and am getting ready to send off my requests. Each of the above companies that ding mentioned have more detail on what they require and how to contact them on their websites. I found six companies. There is also Experian's Rent Bureau (http://www.experian.com/assets/rentbureau/general/request_form.pdf) (CoreLogic SafeRent is a single company, even though it might look like separate companies in ding's list). All six ask for your full name, date of birth, SSN, phone and current address. They also ask for proof of identity (driver's license copy). Three provide a form and the form also asks for previous addresses, but I'm going to let them figure that out for themselves. If they don't already have it, they don't need it. Those three are Experian's Rent Bureau, Tenant Data, and LexisNexis. RentBureau and Lexis want a copy of a utility bill, cc bill, bank statement, etc. as proof of mailing address. The other four do not ask for this. A couple indicate on their websites that you can email (presumably with scans of your ID) or telephone them to ask for the report, but I just mailed my requests, so I don't know if they honor this or just give out more information when you do that. Before I left my last apartment, I was unemployed and got behind in my rent on a few occasions, though when I left I was in good standing. Since then I've been living with family, so no one ran my renter's credit when I moved. I'll be interested to see what I find out, especially since I'm hoping to move in the next few months.

Results! I applied first with my credit union (small, employee-only from where I used to work). I thought there might be some concerns, so I phoned instead of applying online and walked them through it. I'm still on contract with my job, but just couldn't wait any longer. They did have an issue with the judgement (they like to keep it under $5k), but since I mentioned that I thought that amount reporting was substantially off from what I thought the real amount was, they were willing to work with it. They asked for a written statement regarding that, but didn't require any further documentation. They pulled EQ and with a score of 643 for 48 or 60 months they offered 6.74% or 3.74% if I only financed 70% of the car's NADA value. Loan amount up to $20k. This lower rate was a great choice for me since I was planning on putting a substantial amount down. With that in hand, I looked around and ended up picking the 2012 Subarua Impreza Premium sedan--something that was newer than I expected, but there were major changes to the model between 2011 and 2012. I shopped around different dealerships. One had the lowest price advertised, but they lied to me about a couple of things and I just didn't trust them, so I moved on. I ended up making a deal over the phone with another dealership (where I had test driven earlier) and then went in to sign the papers. The car is Certified Pre-Owned, has about 16,000 miles, and is about 14 months old. Original warranties extend from original date of sale, plus 3 years from now, 100k on the powertrain from the CPO. While I was there they checked their financing, and with a score of 645 (didn't see which bureau) they offered 3.09% for 48 or 60 months through Chase which is the main Subaru financer. This saved me almost .75%, so I went with them. $18k+tax+tags+fees about $20k altogether. I financed about 15K and paid the rest in cash.

Congrats! I know how happy I was when I rehabbed and all those bad TLs came flying off! But what is this ombudsman of whom you speak and how can I reach?

Okay. I was inclined to wait until I was on payroll, but then I'd seen a bunch of posts advising people not to apply just after they'd changed jobs or got new jobs, so I wanted to check. Assuming I do that, how does it look?

No, I'm a W-2 employee now. I work on an hourly basis through an agency. I get paid weekly, but I typically work 40+ hours/week unless there's a holiday or something. Like working through a temp agency. When you're a secretary they call it a temp agency, when you're a professional they call it contracting.

Credit Application: Your Age? 46 Your Equifax Credit Score? 643 Your Experian Credit Score? 651 Your TransUnion Credit Score? 635 How many years have you been on file with Equifax? 18 How many years have you been on file with Experian? 18 How many years have you been on file with TransUnion? 19 YOUR PREVIOUS AUTOMOTIVE CREDIT HISTORY Do you have an open auto loan? no Will this open auto loan be a trade-in? n/a How many late pays within the last 12 months on the currently open loan? n/a How many late pays within the last 13-24 months on the currently open loan? n/a Your current open auto loan is financed with? n/a Your current open auto loan payment is? n/a Estimated amount you may be upside down in this vehicle? n/a Rate your payment history on this open auto loan from 1-10 (1=poor:10=Best) n/a YOUR REVOLVING CREDIT HISTORY Total number of revolving account(s) you have? 0 Total percentage utilized overall? 0% How many of your revolving accounts are store cards? 0 How many of your revolving accounts are major credit cards? (i.e. Amex, MC, Visa) 0 How many of your revolving accounts are known subprime credit cards (i.e. Aspire, 1st Premier) 0 Major TLs on reports are $100k student loans reporting positively (no lates) with a few years history. YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION How long at your current residence? 18 months Do you Rent or have a Mortgage, or Live w/Relative or Other? Live with relative Your Monthly Rent or Mortgage payment? $0 How long have you held your current job? 5 months Your total provable monthly gross income is? $5280 Your provable monthly gross income is provable via what method? (i.e. computerized paycheck stub, or tax return) pay stubs Is there additional monthly income? What amount monthly? n/a Describe the source. Is the additional monthly income provable? Spousal income is not applicable. YOUR DOWNPAYMENT Please tell me your exact down payment in cash? (rebates and trade equity are not considered, please input a dollar value only.) $3500 Does any credit repository contain any Public Record? Yes If yes, please very briefly describe. Unpaid judgement from 11/2007, medical $12,900 Does any credit repository contain any Collection Account(s)? Yes If yes, please very briefly describe. Parking ticket, city government, $81, 10/12 Portfolio Recovery, HSBC card, $121, 6/11 (hoping to get both these removed from reports before I officially apply) Please rate your overall creditworthiness on a scale of 1-10 (1=poor, 10= best) 6 Please rate your Installment credit history on a scale of 1-10 (1=poor, 10=best) 9 Please rate your Revolving credit history on a scale of 1-10 (1=poor, 10=best) 3 New or Used vehicle you are considering: 2008-2009 Subaru Impreza or Legacy Sedan. Hoping to finance $12k-$15k for 48 months. Additional Q: Employer is going to shift me from contract to permanent in a more senior position in May with significant salary jump. Expect gross to be about $7300 then. Since I'm driving a borrowed car, I can't put off a purchase. Is it better to do it before change (six months in job, lower salary) or after (new job, more $)? Obviously I'm mainly concerned about the judgement.

I'm trying to figure out who to go to... I have 2 Orchard cards, so I think that's my "2 HSBC card" limit. I suppose I could try Target or something, but I'd really rather have a non-store MC or Visa.

We shouldn't be shocked at anything that happens in the current credit climate, but I have another new development I thought I'd share: I'm trying to rebuild credit, so I have a couple of low limit Orchard cards and a low limit CLC card. The CLC card said it was issued by Fifth Third Bank and that's who I paid the bills to. Cut to yesterday when I got a letter in the mail from them abruptly announcing that they were unable to secure sufficient assets to continue extending credit on their credit cards, and they were canceling all of them. Turns out that despite the Fifth Third labeling, CLC is actually part of "College Loan Credit" services which is mainly a student loan company. They pulled out of federally back student loans last spring when the feds required them to have a greater asset:credit ratio. Of course, I only learned this when I googled them yesterday. The letter assures me that this has nothing to do with my credit history and they're closing all the accounts. Unfortunately, because my credit is not good, I didn't have many options before the credit crunch and now I'm sure I have even fewer. I'll figure something out for my next move -- that's not really the point of this post. The lesson here, I suppose, is that you should diversify even in your credit cards. Even if all your cards are backed by the big banks, just make sure that they're not all backed by the same bank. In this climate, your limits and even your accounts are not predictable.

The requirements for reporting to CRAs are different than the statute of limitations for prosecuting a civil case. CAs can continue to report past SOL. They can even file suit against you. In Virginia, SOL is an affirmative defense. So if they do happen to take you to court, you can get a ruling in your favor. However, lots of folks have been able to use SOL to get CAs to re-sell the account. The CA realizes they can't collect from you because you know the law, so they sell it for what they can and move on. Another CA may then hit you up for it, but again if you respond with the information re: SOL, they're likely to just give up on it. Look on the boards for info on WhyChat's SOL program.

HIPAA allows providers to furnish PHI to "business associates" for the purposes of billing and payment, among other things. The bus. associates in turn are also allowed to furnish to their bus. associates for the same purpose. They are all required to adhere to a standard of disclosure of "minimum necessary" information for the purpose. So far, hospitals, CAs, etc. are all claiming that the name of the provider practice is necessary to collect, so they are justified in releasing it to the CRAs. I strongly doubt this, however, and I'm guessing the CRAs agree with me because more and more they are simply listing the TL like Transunion did "Medical." It may well be allowable for the CA to have it, but as furnishers of PHI (personal health information), they are also obligated to adhere to HIPAA in their disclosures, and it doesn't seem necessary to release the name of the provider to a CRA (which in turn becomes a furnisher if it releases your CRs to a subscriber). A couple of points: You're not likely to get much traction on the issue unless the provider practice name includes the type of services or treatment provided (such as the specialty). All furnishers of information are required to have written contracts with their "business associates" detailing the conditions regarding release of PHI. I'd love to see what will happen when a consumer demands to see this contract between OC and CA, or CA and CRA. It might be me soon. Finally, what possible purpose could it serve to report unpaid medical with PHI to the CRAs? Billing? No, CRAs have nothing to do with billing. Reporting of the general status of an account? No, there's no permissible disclosure for that. For collections? Hmm. Really? So the CA is admitting that they do in fact use insertion into credit reports for the purposes of collection. And that, my friends, makes insertion in, and verification or validation of information in credit report a collection activity -- and, more importantly, "continued collection". CA, meet corner. But until we are able to define "minimum necessary" none of us will get very far with this.

I am not a lawyer and I learned everything I know about law from watching LA Law and The Practice, so I advise you to get proper counsel. I have discovered a "Civil Operations Manual" published online by Legal Services of Northern Virginia (lsnv.org). They provide legal services to poor people and have developed lots of information about credit, collections, and consumer rights. This information they share publicly with anyone who is interested. Civil Operations Manual It is long and I would suggest that anyone who maybe facing court in Virginia read the whole thing thoroughly. However, I thought their information about the statute of limitations on open accounts was important to all CBers. You will want to scroll down also to Sec. VII., F. and click through to the "Vignette" which discusses this more thoroughly with case citations. While there appears to be some controversy over exactly what qualifies as an open account in Virginia law, I think there is no doubt that credit card accounts are open accounts. As this is the case, it is important to note that according to the statute, the statute begins to run on the DOLA. Not, as generally believed, on date of the first default. The date of first default goes to back to FDCPA; but the Virginia code has enacted a more restrictive circumstance.