Mortgage lender advice for a permanent resident

[Nicole72082 0]

My husband has been here since last April and has been working since about November. He's got his conditional permanent resident card. We're looking at buying a house, but the mortgage lender was saying how she's had problems with people who have had just the conditional card and it expiring. And then with him not having any credit whatsoever in America, we're kind of worried. Has anyone had any experience with this and is there such a mortgage lender that knows how to work with this and get around these problems? My husband isn't happy about all the credit cards I already have on my own lol, so he's refusing to open up a credit card just to get credit. I know there is always loans, but then again, we are wanting to possibly buy this house ASAP. Any advice is GREATLY appreciated!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

What about adding him as a user to your credit cards and then he gets to ride on your tail-coats, credit wise until he gets his own credit established? That is what my husband did for me, and within 6 months I was getting all sorts of credit card offers on my own. You could take out a smaller loan together, ie for a car, and then pay it back and again that would help his credit score.

[JaEnglishGirl 34]

What about adding him as a user to your credit cards and then he gets to ride on your tail-coats, credit wise until he gets his own credit established? That is what my husband did for me, and within 6 months I was getting all sorts of credit card offers on my own. You could take out a smaller loan together, ie for a car, and then pay it back and again that would help his credit score.

Piggybacking no longer works as of Dec 31st.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

I got a mortgage in Dec 2006 to buy or house... it was not easy as I had only been in the US since Feb 2005 and of course had very little credit history.... I do have a very good job and a good income and I think that helped.... The mortgage is in my name as my husband does not Work and we did have to come up with over 20% of the cost as a down payment....

Find a good mortgage brooker and get them to do all the hard work of checking with lenders....

Good Luck

Kez

What about adding him as a user to your credit cards and then he gets to ride on your tail-coats, credit wise until he gets his own credit established? That is what my husband did for me, and within 6 months I was getting all sorts of credit card offers on my own. You could take out a smaller loan together, ie for a car, and then pay it back and again that would help his credit score.

Piggybacking no longer works as of Dec 31st.

Please provide a link or info as to where this information came from......

Kez

[Rob1980 0]

What about adding him as a user to your credit cards and then he gets to ride on your tail-coats, credit wise until he gets his own credit established? That is what my husband did for me, and within 6 months I was getting all sorts of credit card offers on my own. You could take out a smaller loan together, ie for a car, and then pay it back and again that would help his credit score.

Piggybacking no longer works as of Dec 31st.

Please provide a link or info as to where this information came from......

Kez

I got added to my wifes bank account and credit card/s and we had the impression that this wouldn't help with my credit rating. I'm not sure where we got that from, so would also be interested to know... for sure.

[Nikita2Charles 32]

Get a good mortgage broker, specially now they really want your business.

[athena_ny 1]

I got a mortgage in Dec 2006 to buy or house... it was not easy as I had only been in the US since Feb 2005 and of course had very little credit history.... I do have a very good job and a good income and I think that helped.... The mortgage is in my name as my husband does not Work and we did have to come up with over 20% of the cost as a down payment....

Find a good mortgage brooker and get them to do all the hard work of checking with lenders....

Good Luck

Kez

What about adding him as a user to your credit cards and then he gets to ride on your tail-coats, credit wise until he gets his own credit established? That is what my husband did for me, and within 6 months I was getting all sorts of credit card offers on my own. You could take out a smaller loan together, ie for a car, and then pay it back and again that would help his credit score.

Piggybacking no longer works as of Dec 31st.

Please provide a link or info as to where this information came from......

Kez

There have been references and links to it in more posts than I can count, but:

http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2007/11/faq.html

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banki...reditScore.aspx

http://www.ralphroberts.com/blog/admin/cre...-score-no-more/

Thank God.

[Dan J 277]

Its going to be alot harder now, than it was to get a mortgage. You can still do it, but you will need to work on getting your husband a credit history. On top of that, you will likely need a 10-20% down payment.

Also the better your credit rating, the better the interest rate you can get on a mortgage.

Adding your spouse as an authroized user to your credit cards wont really do much to increase his or her credit rating anymore. If you can make your spouse a joint account holder, that will help.

You can kind of piggyback in some cases on accounts with certain banks from your home country. If you had an American Express card in good standing in your home country, you can call them to get a card here in the US.

But other than that, your spouse will need to open accounts of thier own.

[athena_ny 1]

Its going to be alot harder now, than it was to get a mortgage. You can still do it, but you will need to work on getting your husband a credit history. On top of that, you will likely need a 10-20% down payment.

Also the better your credit rating, the better the interest rate you can get on a mortgage.

Adding your spouse as an authroized user to your credit cards wont really do much to increase his or her credit rating anymore. If you can make your spouse a joint account holder, that will help.

You can kind of piggyback in some cases on accounts with certain banks from your home country. If you had an American Express card in good standing in your home country, you can call them to get a card here in the US.

But other than that, your spouse will need to open accounts of thier own.

I think, esp. with the subprime lending crisis, it will be a lot harder in general.

[Nanusia & Lukaszek 0]

You can Adding your spouse as an authroized user to your credit cards wont really do much to increase his or her credit rating anymore. If you can make your spouse a joint account holder, that will help.

Exactly. So you can change your personal credit cards to joint accounts and your spouse will still benefit and get a bump in his/her credit score.

So adding someone as a joint account holder will remain a way to improve his or her credit history, but it involves more risk to both parties. The person being added is jointly responsible for any debt (an authorized user is not), has equal access to the account (an authorized user never has to be given a card or access to the account) and often can't be removed from the account unless it's closed (authorized users can be removed at any time, and the imported information disappears from their credit reports).

Surprisingly, its still not that hard to get a mortgage, provided you have the earning potential to back up the amount of loan you are getting. Sure, credit is always good to have, but I still hear of people with shady credit getting approved, even in today's mortgage crisis. Fixed rates are low, its easier to pre-qualify someone than at higher interest rates. Key word FIXED interest rates.

[athena_ny 1]

You can Adding your spouse as an authroized user to your credit cards wont really do much to increase his or her credit rating anymore. If you can make your spouse a joint account holder, that will help.

Exactly. So you can change your personal credit cards to joint accounts and your spouse will still benefit and get a bump in his/her credit score.

So adding someone as a joint account holder will remain a way to improve his or her credit history, but it involves more risk to both parties. The person being added is jointly responsible for any debt (an authorized user is not), has equal access to the account (an authorized user never has to be given a card or access to the account) and often can't be removed from the account unless it's closed (authorized users can be removed at any time, and the imported information disappears from their credit reports).

Surprisingly, its still not that hard to get a mortgage, provided you have the earning potential to back up the amount of loan you are getting. Sure, credit is always good to have, but I still hear of people with shady credit getting approved, even in today's mortgage crisis. Fixed rates are low, its easier to pre-qualify someone than at higher interest rates. Key word FIXED interest rates.

Last month did see an increase in house sales in everywhere but the south east. I'm in Florida, and we got hit really hard by the lending crisis... and I've been hearing a lot of stories and seeing in ads for houses that they were selling it for X amount but the sale didn't go through due to credit issues on the buyer's part. Probably depends where in the county you are.

[JamalNTam 1]

I haven't been on VJ for a minute! Me and my husband have just been pre-approved for a mortgage with Countrywide and I don't work! I arrived here in May '07 and now I have a better credit score than my husband! When I first arrived I was made an authorized user on 2 of his credit cards and added to his bank account (so now we have a joint one). After a while I opened up a Macys account and I got a Capital One Platinum card. Now I hate the offers I receive everyday! Piggyback riding has worked for me! I don't know why people keep saying that it doesn't work now because when we applied for the mortgage and they sent us the offer and info they attached a copy of our credit reports. All of my husbands cards were on mine and he has a card that he is an authorized user and that is showing up as just his! This was this month so it's still working for us!!!

Edited March 28, 2008 by JamalNTam

[athena_ny 1]

I haven't been on VJ for a minute! Me and my husband have just been pre-approved for a mortgage with Countrywide and I don't work! I arrived here in May '07 and now I have a better credit score than my husband! When I first arrived I was made an authorized user on 2 of his credit cards and added to his bank account (so now we have a joint one). After a while I opened up a Macys account and I got a Capital One Platinum card. Now I hate the offers I receive everyday! Piggyback riding has worked for me! I don't know why people keep saying that it doesn't work now because when we applied for the mortgage and they sent us the offer and info they attached a copy of our credit reports. All of my husbands cards were on mine and he has a card that he is an authorized user and that is showing up as just his! This was this month so it's still working for us!!!

There's been a slow down on rolling out the FICO 08, that's why. For someone looking to build credit to buy a house, it's inaccurate to tell them they can rely on piggybacking (as if building credit on credit that's not really your's is some big achievement). By the time they get around to being able to buy the house (especially with the country being in a recession) it may not be calculated using authorized user accounts. Anecdotal evidence, in this case, is not evidence.

Edited March 28, 2008 by athena_ny

[Dan J 277]

I haven't been on VJ for a minute! Me and my husband have just been pre-approved for a mortgage with Countrywide and I don't work! I arrived here in May '07 and now I have a better credit score than my husband! When I first arrived I was made an authorized user on 2 of his credit cards and added to his bank account (so now we have a joint one). After a while I opened up a Macys account and I got a Capital One Platinum card. Now I hate the offers I receive everyday! Piggyback riding has worked for me! I don't know why people keep saying that it doesn't work now because when we applied for the mortgage and they sent us the offer and info they attached a copy of our credit reports. All of my husbands cards were on mine and he has a card that he is an authorized user and that is showing up as just his! This was this month so it's still working for us!!!

There's been a slow down on rolling out the FICO 08, that's why. For someone looking to build credit to buy a house, it's inaccurate to tell them they can rely on piggybacking (as if building credit on credit that's not really your's is some big achievement). By the time they get around to being able to buy the house (especially with the country being in a recession) it may not be calculated using authorized user accounts. Anecdotal evidence, in this case, is not evidence.

I think they still use authorized user in calculating the score. I added my wife as a joint account holder on my checking and saving accounts, but only as an authorized user on my credit card accounts. Today she got an offer in the mail and applied for it. She was approved with a limit much higher than any of my cards!

So much for needing a secured credit card, damn.

[athena_ny 1]

I haven't been on VJ for a minute! Me and my husband have just been pre-approved for a mortgage with Countrywide and I don't work! I arrived here in May '07 and now I have a better credit score than my husband! When I first arrived I was made an authorized user on 2 of his credit cards and added to his bank account (so now we have a joint one). After a while I opened up a Macys account and I got a Capital One Platinum card. Now I hate the offers I receive everyday! Piggyback riding has worked for me! I don't know why people keep saying that it doesn't work now because when we applied for the mortgage and they sent us the offer and info they attached a copy of our credit reports. All of my husbands cards were on mine and he has a card that he is an authorized user and that is showing up as just his! This was this month so it's still working for us!!!

There's been a slow down on rolling out the FICO 08, that's why. For someone looking to build credit to buy a house, it's inaccurate to tell them they can rely on piggybacking (as if building credit on credit that's not really your's is some big achievement). By the time they get around to being able to buy the house (especially with the country being in a recession) it may not be calculated using authorized user accounts. Anecdotal evidence, in this case, is not evidence.

I think they still use authorized user in calculating the score. I added my wife as a joint account holder on my checking and saving accounts, but only as an authorized user on my credit card accounts. Today she got an offer in the mail and applied for it. She was approved with a limit much higher than any of my cards!

So much for needing a secured credit card, damn.

Yeah, like I said, the credit reporting agencies are being slow about converting. Nothing every goes on schedule with corporate America, something it took me a while to learn I just don't think depending on the authorized user cards counting if you plan on buying a hour in a year or two is a good plan.

My husband got approved without being an authorized user, so she could just have good luck, too