1st thing: make sure you AND your spouse both have scores above 740. If you are above but your spouse is below, you will not get the best rate/points offer. Keep in mind home loan scores are different than credit cards, so try to make sure you are well above 740 on the FAKO scores.

I never stopped churning and got my 1st mortgage 2 months ago. My loan officer asked me to explain all of the new credit card accounts on my report. I said I was planning a big vacation and signed up for all of the cards for the sign up bonuses. That was the end of it.

A little off topic but my opinion on mortgages is if you can't afford 15 years you are buying too much house.

If ~ $750 a month makes or breaks you on a $350K mortgage you are cutting things too close IMO


Freddie Mac today

30 years 4.33% $1738/month, interest paid ~$275,000

15 years 3.35% $2476/month, interest paid ~ $95,000

I completely agree--which is why I'm planning to relocate out of Southern California. $350K hardly buys you a condo anymore.

Same for me. I was never a churner, but I had just opened a couple credit cards before applying for my mortgage. The loan officer saw the inquiries and only 1 new line of credit, but 1 was so new it hadn't closed a statement yet. I had to send a couple monthly statements until it picked up on my credit report, but no hit on the rate. I had a credit score over 770 I believe.
The only thing that affected my rate was that I only had 5% to put down.

Another Bubble Forming ?

Cal prices are insane, I am from Connecticut and I hate traffic so I could never live in a place worse than CT like the LA area.

I have 3000 SF house in Minn and a 2250 SF House in FT Myers both built in 2005 that I paid about $350K for combined.

I moved out of CT because unless you are making crazy cash there is just no reason to stay there IMO..............I was paying 10K in property tax in CT on a 2K SF house and they have car taxes based on the mill rate and value of the car which you pay every year. I have a 2002 Maxima that I keep at my dads house in CT that still costs me ~$300 in property tax.........it's crazy.

haha good one ^

+1
sister decided unexpectedly to buy a place and i had of course been helping her maximize her good credit with new cc's up to 2 months before she applied for a mortgage (i think she got 5 cards alone within 60 days of her mortgage application but fortunately not all of them had shown up on her credit report yet ) she has "excellent" credit, a decent length credit history, no real debt, put a substantial amount down, and a good income. she received i think the "best" interest rate available at the time (2.75% ?) but had to verify/explain the new cc's as part of the mortgage application. i think they really do look at the overall picture not just when was your last hard inquiry good luck and don't forget to price shop for mortgage rates online!!

An opportunity has come up that would allow my wife and I to build a home in a good location with a delivery of late 2014 or early 2015. Here’s the problem: I started playing this game hard about 6 months ago and I’m not sure what the impact will be on my ability to get a mortgage. Income and current credit scores (high 700’s) are not a concern. However, between my wife and me we’ve opened 17 cards in 6 months, and have a significant amount of available credit (over $350K). Given how heavily the banks scrutinize these mortgage applications I’m worried that a) they’re going to be very concerned about recent account activity and credit lines, b) they may make us close some of these accounts to limit their risk, and then c) the closure of these accounts could impact my credit score negatively. My biggest fear? The banks make us close accounts, our credit scores plummet, and we get hosed on the rate.

Is this something we should be concerned with? Is there something I can or should do preemptively?

Stop applying for new credit (CCs or otherwise) right now. Make sure all of your credit cards are reporting a $0 balance (except one CC with a 0-10% utilization ratio).

The inquiries may be an issue, but there's nothing you can do about that right now (unless you have some HPs that were mistakes and can be removed). You will likely have to explain all the HPs and new accounts to your underwriter. Paying the reported balances down (which usually means paying right before the statement, not due, date) is important because some underwriters will amortize your statement balances, even if you PIF, which can hurt your DTI.

Question: MY score is 748 right now. I just started looking for houses so say I take the average time of about 4-6 months. If I apply for a CC right now, and follow suit of paying off the big expenses the same day so as to show ~0% utilization would my credit score go up or would it go down further?

Had 10+ combined inquiries in the past 69 days and had no issue getting a loan this week. Also has amazon payments and google wallet I had to explain away, but took about 5 mins to write a short letter and we got 4.25 with no closing costs...

I know FT mods hate new threads. I was trying to see if there's any existinh threads on this topic but couldn't find one so please feel free to direct me to the appropriate thread.

I've not been applying for credit since past 6 months as I was planning to get a mortgage in the next 1-2 years. Almost all of the credit card applications have been on my wife's name as she doesn't work and her credi won't come in to plan in the mortgage. I understand the general concensus is that you shouldn't apply for credit at least 1-2 years before you are planning to issue the mortgage. However at the same time I do not want to be missing out on the lucrative CC offers which usually arrive only once in a while (like Citi Executive AA). My FICO scores are in the range of 720-740 and my total credit history is 3 years. Income is very good but I live in a very expensive housing market.

I'm probably becoming too optimistic when I say I'll get the mortgage in 1-2 years. With houses so expensive here, it might take another year for me to save the 20% down payment. That makes me wonder if I should have a couple of App-o-Ramas in the next 6 months (one now & another after 6 months).

Are you currently, or have you been in such a situation in the past? If so, what are your thoughts on this? TIA.

And here I thought you were coming back to tell us you found a way to MS your way to a free house

I think most of the info you are looking for is buried in the AoR threads so you might be better off searching the myfico forums. That said, you need to focus on getting your score up as high as possible (at least 760) for the best mortgage rate. 0.5% can mean a five figure difference in interest over the life of the loan which no signup bonus is worth that imho. An AoR now will only bring down your AAoA and make it harder for your score to rebound by the time you find the perfect house.

The rules of the game and the players may change, but credit card offers will always be around.

I would apply for select cards up to 6 months prior, but if and only if my scores were 760+...for you I would do what you can to increase your score and forget about any new apps at this time

What worked 6 months ago, may not work tomorrow. Talk with your mortgage broker before applying for any form of credit. Great rates out there right now, but most underwriters want to see a score of 800+ for the best ones.