Someday800

Have you tried Capital One Auto? They seem to have eased up quite a bit on granting approvals lately. As long as you can show your income, (and they do have a minimum income but I don't known what it is), you should be okay.

Yes! I've had the card for many years and could never get past the $200 initial CL. My hubby and daughter got bumped to $500 within a few months of getting theirs and then up to $1,000 last year. I had given up on ever getting an increase and I went to check my balance last month and saw they had bumped me to $1,000!

I should have been on here sooner, but things have been crazy busy. But I wanted to give a big THANK YOU to Brian the Loan Professor! We closed on our house at the end of April - thanks to him and all his hard work in getting it done. I have to say my realtor was skeptical about having a mortgage from a bank that was across the country from us, but she was impressed with how it all played out. Mostly everything was done electronically, so there were very few snags. Brian responded quickly to every e-mail, even with the time difference. When I was ready to give up, he helped me stay sane! We did have some issues, but it had to do with the house itself and the appraiser. When we got to the close table, we found out from both realtors that this seems to be the biggest cause of problems lately. We are mostly unpacked right now (what a pain that is!) and enjoying our house and yard! Flowers are being planted and we've had great weather the past week, so things are looking up. I think I'm still in shock - and I don't think it has really hit me yet that I'm a homeowner! I can paint, decorate whatever I want without worrying about checking with a landlord first! I also have to thank everyone here on the board too because I gained a lot of info on how to clean up my credit and reach our goal of buying a house. We also made it in time for the tax credit, so that was an added bonus. Because of weather conditions in February and March, our state was declared in a State of Emergency and we got a reprieve to file taxes until May 11th, so my fiance was able to hold off filing and did a straight return as opposed to an amended one. P.S. Brian - we've had a couple more soaking rain storms (even a major hail storm that dented my car!) and happy to report NO LEAKS WHATSOEVER!!!!

Though I do consider myself intelligent, there are some things I would rather rely on a professional to do. Spending over a quarter of a million dollars on a purchase (such as a house), I would rather a realtor handle the process and paperwork. This is something they are trained in and live and breathe on a daily basis! Though I can scour the internet for hours/days/weeks looking for houses and think I'm savvy in the art of house buying, one little error in filling out paperwork can cost thousands of dollars. Just as I may feel comfortable changing the oil in my car, I would have a mechanic do more complicated repairs. If I have a mouse in the house, I would set a trap and get rid of it. If my house has an infestation of mice, I will call a professional exterminator. As far as credit repair, sending out dispute letters and challenging debt collectors on their tactics is one thing. If someone were to sue me for thousands of dollars, I would call a lawyer. Some things are better left to the professionals. And BTW, a waitress/waiter makes less than minimum wage. I know some are just bad at their job, but most waiters/waitresses I know bust their butts running all over the place, listening to people complain about every little thing (remember - they don't cook the food!) and at a lot of places they have to give a portion of what they make to cooks/bartenders/bus boys-girls. Their income relies on the tips they make - so if they give great service, they should be compensated for it. If you choose to go to a place that has $100 dinners, be prepared to tip accordingly. If you don't want to tip, don't go! Stay home and cook and wait on yourself!

In my state, you don't pay the buyer's agent anything. They split the commission with the seller's agent. I also believe it is illegal in my state for a realtor to write a check at close or after closing to their client from their commission or credit back any of it.

You don't pay the agent's commission - that comes out of the seller's proceeds. Even if the agent agrees to accept less than the 3% for some reason, there is no way you would be able to get the 1%. I have a buyers agent and like others have said, they are able to get the scoop on some of the houses we were interested in. Such as, not eligible for FHA financing; info on certain neighborhoods, etc. She was very forceful with the seller's realtor in getting them to accept our offer and have them pay closing costs. When I've been ready to throw in the towel a few times along the way, she has picked me back up and kept me going. Before I decided on a realtor, I talked with several. I picked the one I did because I felt comfortable with her - and she seemed very organized and well prepared. When I call or email her, she responds right away - whether she has an answer for me or not. I've heard stories from people who get an agent and once the P & S is signed, they don't hear from their realtor until closing. There is a lot of waiting in between and hair pulling through the financing process and it is comforting to know that my agent is still there for me to vent to.

Just keep a paper trail of everything. Is your paycheck direct deposited? If so, that will show up on your bank statement, so if you make more one week than the base the bank is using, you're all set. It's only when you make random deposits that have no explanation where you run into a problem. The bank might think someone is writing you a check, loaning you the money which would mean you'd have to pay it back and would cut into your DTI. If you sell on E-bay, can you set up a special account just for those items so that it won't be mingled with your other funds? Your tax refund is YOUR money. That is no problem at all. For your IRA, are you able to take a loan out on it instead of the withdrawal? (For most banks, they won't count that loan in your DTI because you're paying yourself back your own money.) When you take out a withdrawal, I believe plans will make you wait 6 months before you can start putting any contributions in again. Talk with your employer's plan administrator about your options there. I also believe there are some tax ramifications with withdrawal vs. loans when you file your taxes. You don't pay taxes up front with a hardship withdrawal, but you have to claim it as income on your taxes (so you do pay some taxes on it).

The taxes may have been underestimated because they originally might have been going off 2009 taxes and now that 2010 taxes are out, it has increased. On the house I plan to buy, the taxes listed originally were 2009 but the 2010 rate is now out. Home insurance varies greatly, so that is something that there is no set rate. In my own case, the quote I got from the insurance agent is less than what was originally put on the GFE.

Wow - this is unbelievable! I do the deposits for my company and we make large check deposits all the time - $10,000-$40,000 separate checks. They deposit the checks and the funds are available immediately. The only time a hold was put on was a check from Canada and that was maybe 7 days. In my own personal account, if I deposit a check from a business, the funds are available immediately. If it's a personal check, $100 is available immediately and then if it's an in-state check funds within 3 days; out of state check funds available in 5 days.

Just be careful disputing with HSBC. It took me almost a year to remove the "Disputed by Consumer" comment off the reports. I did dispute 1 account because it was incorrect, so they put the note on. After it was resolved, they kept the comment on. Everytime I would try to get the comment off, they would just transfer it to one of the other HSBC accounts I had. It went around in a vicious circle - with HSBC blaming the CRA's and the CRA's blaming HSBC! The comment finally came off all of the accounts the middle of February - AND the accounts updated for February - so it looks like I won't get any updates for a couple of months.

Qix - I think people are getting frustrated because you've said several times what your CCT scores are and think they should be comparable to FICO scores when applying for a mortgage. The only scores the lender is going to pull are the FICO scores - which can vary up or down by as much as 100 points from any other score you get from CCT or any other place. As for your previous question regarding bank statements - if your lender asks for them - GIVE THEM! Every page, even if there is nothing on there other than the bank's fine print. Without a fuss or questioning why they want it. As the process goes along and they ask for more - GIVE THEM! They are loaning you a large sum of money for a large purchase and they have every right to go over your finances. Yes, it may be somewhat intrusive or inconvenient, but if you want the mortgage, you need to cater to them. A lot of people on here have spent years fixing their credit and researching what they need to do to get a mortgage and it's very overwhelming - but any inconvenience or invasion of privacy will be worth it when you finally have the keys to your new house in your hands! So, when people give you advice - whether it's what you want to hear or not - listen to what they are saying and be appreciative that they are helping you along in this process.

Have you tried looking on Zillow and plugging the address in? That usually has a link where you can get to the original listing and shows the agency that's listing it. And it gives you a "z-estimate" and then a range (on some places the range is big from high to low). In my own home search, I've found that the MLS listings can take a week or so to update if there is an offer. Some properties (and it seems most short sales around here) will have a notation that they have an offer pending but are also accepting additional offers. My guess is that since a lot of short sales take a long time, but original person who made the offer has gotten frustrated and moved on, leaving the seller backups. I have found sometimes that Zillow doesn't show some properties that are up for sale.

I'm working with Brian B the Loan Professor and he has been absolutely great!!!! Has a lot of patience and doesn't mind me bugging him with my dumb questions.

Desmod - I sent you a P.M.

I pulled my fico scores and they were different than what the mortgage pulled - on the same day! On what I pulled, my EQ was higher and my TU was lower - and not just by a couple of points. Some people happen to get the same scores, but it doesn't always happen that way. For some, even their FAKO scores are the same. But you won't know until you actually apply. It's really too bad that there isn't 1 model that all 3 agencies use - and that is open to the public, but it seems like FICO scores will always be a mystery!