poppet24 Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 Hello – So in December I started cleaning up my credit in my quest for a house. I started out around the 450’s and am currently sitting with my highest being TU 681 and lowest EQ at 661. EQ will go up though because my judgment has been removed since the last time I got my scores. Been thinking about trying to get another credit card to see if that would help my score go up.Anyway, we are looking at getting a GRH Loan. We’ve paid off all our debts except for our car and student loans and we are currently sticking most of our checks in savings to have that emergency fund. We have also set up our budget to see what we can afford. We have been doing this for a few months actually to see how we are spending our money and wow that was an eye opener!Now for my questions. How much should we shoot for in our savings? Does anyone know with a GRH Loan if we will need to set up an escrow account and if so how much we should expect to need for that? I am not really positive I understand this whole escrow thing.My husband and I will be first time buyers and we want to do this right from the beginning. Is there anything else we should be doing to get ready? I am hoping to be ready to start the process in a few months. I am ready to be out of my MIL’s house I would appreciate any suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 Do not get another credit card. There are like 17 different FICO scoring models. Having more than 1 or 2 open CC's does not help the FICO Mortgage Score. In fact, pay off (if you can) any open CCs you may already have. Having $0 unsecured credit will help you Mortgage score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppet24 Posted March 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Do not get another credit card. There are like 17 different FICO scoring models. Having more than 1 or 2 open CC's does not help the FICO Mortgage Score. In fact, pay off (if you can) any open CCs you may already have. Having $0 unsecured credit will help you Mortgage score.Thanks! I didn't want to get another one to begin with and we don't really have much on the cards anymore either. My husband has one and I have one and they both have maybe $50 on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockDaddy Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 I agree about not getting another credit card now, just before going for a mortgage.You have a good mix of credit trade lines - car, student loans, credit card. Just keep em' current and yeah, pay off the cc's before you apply for a mortgage.Rule of thumb for how much emergency cash you should have saved, I try to keep six months worth of income on hand. Not realistic for everyone, but that's something to shoot for. So far, it sounds like you guys are killing this, doing everything perfectly. Kudos.I can't speak to GRH loan question, sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppet24 Posted March 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 Thanks Mr. RockDaddy I appreciate the advice. I would love to have 6 months of income saved up. At the moment I am planning on 3 months or I might end up pulling out my hair if we end up staying with my mother in-law much longer. As much as I want to be in my own house now, I'm trying not to put the cart before the horse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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