soublondie

I'm also in Oregon - my zip is 97229. Any options that you know of? I already have a joint checking account with my hubby at BofA. One of us needs to get an individal checking account. Hubby applied for another account at BofA- denied due to Chex. I applied - denied with no reason given.

I've heard that when applying for a mortgage, most lenders would prefer that you don't have many open credit cards that are not being used. True? My husband and I have about $7000 in credit card debt, spread out over 4 or 5 cards. Should we do a balance transfer and eliminate three cards and only have two open? If so, should we then close those three cards? Our total available credit (not including department store cards) is currently $16K. If we closed those three cards, that would drop us down to about $11K, raising our utilization from 43% to 63%. Is it better to have a lower utilization rate with more unused credit cards, or better to have a higher rate with less credit cards? Help!

Thank you so much for your reply! I hadn't even heard of an interest-only loan until last month. So we could probably get an IO or ARM loan and then later refinance when our income increases? Definitely an idea... A couple of our best friends were trying to use their VA loan, found their dream house, offered exactly what they were asking, and were still turned down. The sellers didn't agree with the VA loan on principle, and therefore would not sell to anyone trying to use a VA loan. Grr. I know that the builder will sell to buyers using VA loans, so that could be our backup. Once again, thanks for your help!

Credit newbie here, so sorry if I'm a little slow. My husband and I are hoping to purchase our first home this summer. We qualify for the VA loan, as he just got off active duty in September. His credit scores are in the low 700s, mine are in the upper 600s. I think our biggest obstacle in purchasing a home will be our income. We're currently both students, and my husband is also working full-time. I'm in my first year of law school, so I'm not able to work right now. I'll begin working in May and will continue working through the next school year. Our income will definitely increase in May, and will definitely increase a year or two from now. Right now our income is about $3,000 a month, including my financial aid. We're looking to buy into a new housing development, so the price we're looking at is about $160,000. We have one car payment, $340 a month, and about $100 a month in credit card bills. Edited to add: My husband has a couple late payments on his credit report from before 2001. I have one late payment on a credit card from 2001. Other than that, we don't have any derogatory info on our report. Is there any way we'll be able to qualify on our own for a VA mortgage? His parents are willing to cosign with us, but I'm hoping we can use that as a last resort. Any info or advice is greatly appreciated! TIA! :8)

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I think I'll try a goodwill letter and see what the outcome is. psukid99 - My problem is that I *don't* know how many lates he had. I don't know if he had more or less than what they're reporting. This happened over two years ago, before we were married and while his parents had power of attorney. He doesn't even know how many of his payments would have been late. The first CSR said that she saw more than they were actually reporting, but then the CSR I spoke to tonight said that they didn't have access to that information - that info that old isn't even in their computer systems. So I have no way of knowing if that first CSR was correct or not. I'll try the letter. Thanks for the advice, everyone! Wish me luck.

If you get any info - please let me know. I just posted regarding a very similar situation. Good luck!

Hello All! I'm a credit newbie, so I'm hoping some of you experts out there can help me. DH has an account that has been closed since 2001. The account was with AT&T Direct Billed Card, and was basically his phone service while he was active duty military. Because of being deployed and problems with mail, he probably did make a couple late payments. All three credit bureaus have him listed as 30 days late twice and 60 days late once. When I called AT&T for verification of the dates, they refused to give me any information. They insisted that I write their headquarters for verification. Interesting note - the first CSR I spoke to said that, according to their records, he made more late payments than reported. I spoke to her in December. I just called AT&T again, and the CSR I spoke to said that they only had account information for the last year, so she didn't even see any late payments. If they only have access to the last year, and the account has been closed since 2001, how could the first CSR access any information? Anyways - what do you guys think? Should I write a goodwill letter? I'm worried that if I dispute it, they'll add more late payments that may or may not be accurate. Help! TIA! :8)