     Jodi | Wednesday, February 02, 2000 - 09:20 am 
Hi. I am a 24 year old single female and I am in the market for a home. I have terrible credit due to credit card problems in college. On the bright side, I have a great job, no dependents, and my only monthly payments are small student loan installments. My parents have great credit and are willing to co-sign a loan....is this something that is possible, or is a home loan different from other types of loans in that cosigning is not traditionally practiced? Any advice you could give me would be helpful. Thanks. |
| rcb (Rbielak) | Thursday, February 03, 2000 - 06:05 am
I can only speak from experience. The mortgage companies that I've worked with in Michigan don't "combine" scores to offset a low score for a primary borrower with a high score of a secondary borrower. BOTH persons (or all of them) have to qualify with a minimum FICO score (usually the middle score of the three - one from each bureau) or the loan won't get approved. Half a year ago, my (now) wife's score was in the high 700's while mine was down in the upper 500's to the lower 600's - not good enough for a 660 required score for the program we wanted. After paying debts, clearning derogs and other items from my records, my score finally went past the 660 minimum and we got the approval.
Again, this is only my experiences and those with the particular mortgage brokers and lenders that we talked to (about 6 or 7 I think). |
