So, what's a good debt/income ratio?

[sherman]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by sportsbet:
OK guys wait I'm confused (sorry to interrupt). I haven't seen a 600 on my credit scores since the ice age thanks to some poor planning in the mid 90's but is it better to pay off your outstanding debt or to go in with a larger downpayment? I'm confused.

Thanks for your comments...I really need to get serious about getting my reports in order.

sb <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

In MY OPINION you are better off going with a higher down payment. You can write off mortgage interest, not credit cards!

 

[RPM]

sportbet,

your best bet is to try to do a little of both. for instance, if you can pay down some of your debt, but still go in with say, 5% down, you could do something like an 80/15/5 loan which is pretty popular right now.

that is, you do two loans, one for 80% of value, then one for 15% of value, and the 5% down. this will save you from paying pmi insurance.

if your score is under 600, you should definetly get your scores up before buying a house. it would take less than 3 months to get into the mid 600's

 

Thanks RPM (and Sherman). My main problem is this car loan. Long story but the short details are the car was totaled (into a wall at about 70 mph) and there was no insurance on the vehicle. The loan company took the car away and I haven't made a payment since but the loan is still outstanding (obviously marked late since the accident is almost a year old). I have had a settlement offer of 67 percent (2/3) and we're not talking about a HUGE amount of money (15k left on the loan and they've stopped calculating interest..the offer I got was for 11k to have it marked paid). I'm just debating on paying them the 11k and not having that to put down or putting the 11k down on the house in addition to anything else I save lately. If this loan goes away it's about 75 percent of my total debt.

Thanks again guys for the help. RPM thanks for the loan idea I definately want to stay away from PMI and thought the only way I could do it is by putting down 20 percent. I'm not a real estate guy to say the least.

sb

 

[RPM]

settling the debt for less than full amount doesnt look good for your score, but its better than leaving it unpaid.

is this finance company still reporting this every month, or have they stopped?

how long ago did this happen?

 

[sherman]

You must go Subprime or put down 20% to avoid PMI.

 

[RPM]

thats not true sherman. havent you ever done a 80/15/5 loan?

the 15 is considered a home equity loan, so it is at a little higher interest, but that doesnt make it subprime. it is based on the prime rate for an equity loan.

 

[RPM]

this thread should be titled...

CROSSFIRE MORTGAGE TALK WITH RPM AND SHERMAN!~

J/K

 

[newbie666]

just do this math...

how many hours you invest
and how much you got return...

once you have the result ask your self
if your time (x hour) is that valuable...

 

Yeah I don't want them to report any monies owed on that loan. I recently pulled a 3 in 1 report and I know they aren't calculating interest anymore BUT the account is listed as Open/Late 120 Days/Past Due $6263.

Now the kicker is the last reported date was 09/01/2003 and the amount owed is $15670 which is correct because up until the accident I had never missed a payment (and the reports do reflect that). There is no other instance of this loan anywhere on the reports (like transferred to collection or anything like that) so I don't know where I sit right now I guess.

Thanks again guys.

sb

 

[RPM]

SPORTSBET,

are you saying the loan is or isnt showing up on your reports?

im confused.

 

[RPM]

if you have accounts in collections, it may be required that they be paid off in order to get the loan to start with.

 

Sorry RPM it IS showing up...the last reported date is 9/1/03.

 

[RPM]

well, at least they have stopped reporting it. thats good anyway.

sounds to me like the company has already written it off as a loss with their taxes.

you should try disputing the account with all three reporting agencies. with any luck, the finance company wont respond and you will have it removed from your credit.

who is the finance company?

 

I have 2 accounts in collections. One is a piddly 190 dollar medical thing from years ago (but reported 6/04 so that one I'll just pay in full) and the other is a credit card from 7/00 that is sitting at around 5500 (reported 6/04).

Those two and the car loan are pretty much it. I have no credit card debt current and I'm on time with everything I have now (I have 3 cards with none having a limit over 700 bucks so it's not hard to stay out of trouble with them).

sb

 

SST (Systems and Services Technologies) out of Missouri. I think they were Fairlane (which I believe is/was Ford's higher risk credit grantors). Obviously I was in worse shape before I got the loan in 2000 so I was in a higher risk group for a car loan.

sb

 

[RPM]

ok, the first thing you can do for your scores is to get the balance on the cards at no more than 33% of total limits. i mean on the cards that are still open.

if you have 3 cards and all 3 have $700 limits, than thats $2100 of available credit.

get the total debt on those cards down under $700 and then keep it there. next, dispute your current balances with the 3 reporting agencies so that the balances on your reports will be accurate.

if you debt is currently more than 33% of total limits on those cards, doing this will raise your score by as much as 50 points.

 

Scores are 586/555/554 for the 3 bureaus.

OK two of the cards are at 0 dollars and the third is at like 200 so they are pretty low. Reported on these reports 2 of them were at or around 50 percent of the credit so that probably hurt them then.

Again thanks for ALL of your help.

sb

 

[RPM]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by sportsbet:
SST (Systems and Services Technologies) out of Missouri. I think they were Fairlane (which I believe is/was Ford's higher risk credit grantors). Obviously I was in worse shape before I got the loan in 2000 so I was in a higher risk group for a car loan.

sb <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


strong chance that since they have closed/changed names that they wont return the info request from the reporting agencies. dispute the account with all 3 beuros.

 

[bigbet1234]

spekaing of credit cards.

Does large revolving credit effect you in anyway?

i have 3 CC with over 40K in available balance

 

[RPM]

remember, paying off collections accounts will not remove them from your credit report. therefore, if they are paid, it will have no effect on your scores.

only reason to pay them now, is if a lender requires it.