So I am shopping around for a home loan. Is it true that every time someone requests your credit report it hurts your credit score? also, anyone know any good first time home buyer loans.

3/5/2008 12:48:42 AM

I have read that whenever there is an inquiry on your personal credit it subtracts approximately 2 points from your credit score -- effective for ~ 3 years. Not sure how true that is, but I am inclined to believe it or that its pretty close.

3/5/2008 12:52:01 AM

I was told that when it's for things like a home loan or car loan they give you like 2 or 3 free inquiries where your credit goes unaltered. But if you were to check your credit report and a few credit card companies were to check AND a home loan, I've heard that's when it starts to plummet.

3/5/2008 1:24:42 AM

well that is just absolutely retarded

3/5/2008 1:42:55 AM

^^ Yeah. In other words, don't go to 5 different banks and try to get a loan.

3/5/2008 1:46:45 AM

You're fine if it's a bunch of the same kind of inquiry within a short timespan ... say a month. The credit agencies expect you to shop around for the best rate. Your lender will only be interested in your income, payment history, and down payment.

3/5/2008 1:48:24 AM

^...and existing debt

3/5/2008 2:23:28 AM

^ . . .and debt-to-income ratio. . .

3/5/2008 4:30:15 AM

and credit scores, and FYI apparently paying your enormous credit card debt off and closing the accounts hurts your score rather than helps it, I have come to the conclusion that the credit system in this country is fubar.

3/5/2008 8:15:56 AM

Yeah better off paying it off and leaving it open usually... its bullshit in some cases.

3/5/2008 8:32:04 AM

Quote :

"You're fine if it's a bunch of the same kind of inquiry within a short timespan ... say a month. The credit agencies expect you to shop around for the best rate."

-------------

Quote :

"apparently paying your enormous credit card debt off and closing the accounts hurts your score rather than helps it, I have come to the conclusion that the credit system in this country is fubar."

It's not fubar. It makes perfect sense. If your debt to credit ratio goes up then your score should go down.

3/5/2008 9:51:10 AM

I guess I look at it in the fact that having a CC with say a 5K limit on it with zero balance means its possible at any time I could go out and blow 5K on something to add to my debt and hinder my ability to pay other bills. Doesnt make sense to me that that would look better than not having that potential debt there.

3/5/2008 10:23:40 AM

But if you have a massive debt, pay it off and then close the card that suggests that you aren't fiscally restrained enough to have available credit. Keeping it open and not using it shows responsibility.

3/5/2008 10:28:06 AM

Yeah, but lets say you go get a mortgage. If they see you have 5K available credit, they know you can tap that to pay for gas, food, utilities, etc in order to continue making your mortgage payments if you come on hard times.

[Edited on March 5, 2008 at 10:29 AM. Reason : sp]

3/5/2008 10:28:18 AM

when I got my home loan, I did the same thing and 8 or 10 different people ran my credit. When I made the decision on who to go with, I had to explain to them why that many inquiries were on my credit report. It wasnt a big deal, I just told them that I had been shopping around for different home loans and everything was good.

3/5/2008 11:27:25 AM

Was it over more than 2 weeks? I'm pretty sure they all show up as one inquiry if you do them within 2 weeks.

3/5/2008 11:30:23 AM

Quote :

"Looking for a mortgage or an auto loan may cause multiple lenders to request your credit report, even though you're only looking for one loan. To compensate for this, the score ignores all mortgage and auto inquiries made in the 30 days prior to scoring. So, if you find a loan within 30 days, the inquiries won't affect your score while you're rate shopping. In addition, the score looks at your credit report for auto or mortgage inquiries older than 30 days. If it finds some, it counts all those inquiries that fall in a typical shopping period as just one inquiry when determining your score. For FICO scores calculated from older versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 14 day span. For FICO scores calculated from the newest versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 45 day span. Each lender chooses which version of the FICO scoring formula it wants the credit reporting agency to use to calculate your FICO score."

That's from bankrate, but it says it was originally from myfico.com

3/5/2008 11:34:47 AM

^^it was over more than 2 weeks and it showed up as 8-10 different inquiries.

3/5/2008 11:36:36 AM

i dont even think i can afford a house on my salary, at least not anything in an area i would want to live

3/5/2008 12:04:37 PM

Thats why I am shopping for condos and townhouses, I have looked at a few decent places, but also a few places I was like screw that this place aint worth nearly as much as they are asking. I have topped myself at 100k or so, may take me longer to find a decent place in a good location at that price, but its doable I am sure.

3/5/2008 1:37:35 PM

Double Income No Kids is the way to go when first buying a house.

3/5/2008 1:55:48 PM

I just got a loan to buy a house through National City Mortgage. I got a 100% loan as a first time buyer on just my income. My agent was Chris Foster and he was excellent to work with. I highly recommend them.

3/5/2008 3:17:49 PM

Quote :

"You're fine if it's a bunch of the same kind of inquiry within a short timespan ... say a month. The credit agencies expect you to shop around for the best rate. Your lender will only be interested in your income, payment history, and down payment."

3/5/2008 8:19:39 PM

Serious question.

If it did, would you avoid shopping around?

Home loan's a big deal. Make sure you don't get fucked and avoid ARMs.

3/6/2008 4:47:32 PM