Hi all!

So I have a credit score of 576 today; I have about 22% of the purchase price for a down payment; I cannot get anyone to approve me for a loan! I thought the sizable down payment would help, but I can't even get that far in the process.

My husband's credit score is the same or lower - he had a bankruptcy 5 years ago and a bad car accident 4 years ago which has left him disabled - it also lef tus in a financial bind, resulting in medical bills in collection and missed payments.

All bills are now taken care of - we have NO debt - what can we do there has to be a loan out there somewhere - doesn't there?

Thanks!

Doubtful. You are a serious credit risk. There are not many sub prime lenders out there anymore and even those will likely turn you down.

Spend the next 6 months working on restoring your credit (many good articles online about this) and give it another shot.

May I ask what kind of a loan you're asking for? A house... a car? Due to the economic downturn, it's nearly impossible to get a loan for anything.

I'm a business owner, and I had a rough time getting a $20k sba loan...

Thanks for responding Steve - so not what I wanted to hear of course! But it is the truth I am trying to accept.

It just frustruates me! We have above the amount of income for the home prices we are looking at; plenty for down payment and closing and will still have plenty left in savings too!

We have the means now, and our credit history was screwed up by a careless driver who disabled my husband - sorry that turned into quite the whiney vent!

Thanks again!

Your biggest value now is patience. It will come in time. I was worse off than you (by my own and other's doing) and now live in our new home. You know the saying "Time heals all wounds"? It applies to credit too.

Keep saving and read what you can about credit establishment and rebuilding. Suze Orman talks about it at great length in many of her books.

You haven't told us how much of your regular monthly income will have to go towards the mortgage and insuracnce. Even if you have a good size down payment the banks want to see that you have enough cash flow to carry the mortgage.

If I did the math right then our house payment would be 30% of our monthly income; we have minimal credit card payment monthly is 1% of our monthly income. The only other bills we have are utilities...

There's an article in the NY Times today that says that the absolute minimum credit score that either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac will accept is 620 - no exceptions. Since lenders these days will not make a mortgage loan that they can't sell off to one of these agencies, that just about sets the bar for all mortgages. The article talks about how the credit score has become the one and only criterion for making a loan; all other factors that lenders used to take into account - income, cash reserves, size of down payment, loan to equity in the property, etc - are all no longer being considered. Yes, in the bad old days banks were guilty of being to lax and making loans to anyone with a pulse, but now unfortunately the pendulum has swung so far the other way that it is stifling the economy.

Here's the Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/business/24nocera.html?_r=1&ref=business

It is hard, many lenders are requiring a larger down for people with good credit, the days of zero down is gone normally.
And the lower the score the harder. If you have a local bank where you do business that know you, and have faith or trust in you, there is more of a chance.

Get an FHA loan. If you were at 580 you could possibly qualify for maximum financing. Between 500 and 579 you will need 10 percent down and no late pays for the past year. Get thee to a lender!