Need help/advice please

[Kay98 7]

So my husband has been here a little over a year in the U.S (he’s from Canada). He got approved for his green card but we don’t have it yet. But here is the situation…. How did everyone go with trying to get a house loan? 
 

Let me explain…

 

Obviously I have a work history but with my husband, all his work history is in Canada and he has been at his job in the U.S. for almost 6 months but it’s commission. Loan officers keep telling me that they can only use my income and won’t use his due to the lack of 2 year history. 
 

Is there any advice that helped you get a house loan with both incomes even if they don’t have a 2 year work history and they are on commission? With me alone, it seems like nobody wants to help me.. 

 

Thank you in advance. 

[TBoneTX 45,259]

Thread is moved from Off Topic to the Tax & Finances forum, for higher relevant traffic.

[Ontarkie 14,216]

Many opted to use just the USC's credit and work history for the mortgage company. Then have both spouse's names on the deed.

Now the cool thing about a Canadian if he has really good credit up in Canada and you can find a bank that is willing to check his Canadian credit report than you can use that. Check out the banks with a Canadian counter part. 

[Crazy Cat 41,811]

9 hours ago, Ontarkie said:

Many opted to use just the USC's credit and work history for the mortgage company. Then have both spouse's names on the deed.

That is exactly what we did since proving wife's income from documents all written in Chinese was much easier for the mortgage company to work with.

[Kay98 7]

18 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

That is exactly what we did since proving wife's income from documents all written in Chinese was much easier for the mortgage company to work with.

Did they have a commission job?

[Crazy Cat 41,811]

45 minutes ago, Kay98 said:

Did they have a commission job?

Neither of us had commission jobs.  We used only income which was my military retirement pension and Social Security retirement pension.  The mortgage company was fine with that.

Edited July 28 by Crazy Cat

[Kay98 7]

1 hour ago, Crazy Cat said:

Neither of us had commission jobs.  We used only income which was my military retirement pension and Social Security retirement pension.  The mortgage company was fine with that.

Huh, okay. I was just curious! My husband moved here Jan. 2023 and we had to wait for his work visa to get approved so they took awhile. Just sucks they want a 2 year history. Like, we want to start our family and be on our own but it’s so hard when loan officers don’t wanna help. I wish they would take consideration of job history from their home country so it can be used in the country that they moved to. Now that he got approved for his conditional green card, it’s less stressful but we still struggling. Wish there was programs to help us out cause I don’t think many loan officers know much about immigration stuff.

[JeanneAdil 6,489]

/even a USC needs at a year with consistent work history

if u had gone with spouse visa and gotten ITIN and added him to your accounts prior to arrival he would have a credit history established 

 

you will find out later if u try to add him to mortgage ,  it requires all the closing costs again

 

Check lending tree site as it talks about mortgage loans (FHA,  etc) for immigrants

 

Getting a Mortgage as an Immigrant to the U.S. | LendingTree

 

[P055UM 281]

A two year work history requirement is common but by no means ubiquitous. I would recommend shopping around, look at local credit unions, talk to realtors etc etc.

 

Admittedly I don’t have a commission job but was included on the mortgage with less than six months work history. Hopefully you will be able to find a loan officer who understands your situation and can make exceptions or knows which avenues to follow.

 

Good luck! 

[Kay98 7]

1 minute ago, P055UM said:

A two year work history requirement is common but by no means ubiquitous. I would recommend shopping around, look at local credit unions, talk to realtors etc etc.

 

Admittedly I don’t have a commission job but was included on the mortgage with less than six months work history. Hopefully you will be able to find a loan officer who understands your situation and can make exceptions or knows which avenues to follow.

 

Good luck! 

I heard some people didn’t even have to have a 2 year history and they were still able to have their income with their partners. I talked to 3 lenders. 2 of them said they won’t use him and then I talked to this one girl and she said if everything checks out, she’ll move add his income at the 6th month mark. But also, my bank (which is a credit union), has lenders that can hopefully help me out. I hate how strict the housing rules are. Nobody can afford anything with 1 income.

[Kay98 7]

15 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

/even a USC needs at a year with consistent work history

if u had gone with spouse visa and gotten ITIN and added him to your accounts prior to arrival he would have a credit history established 

 

you will find out later if u try to add him to mortgage ,  it requires all the closing costs again

 

Check lending tree site as it talks about mortgage loans (FHA,  etc) for immigrants

 

Getting a Mortgage as an Immigrant to the U.S. | LendingTree

 

Hi! He has good credit now. It’s just the 2 year history and commission that is causing us issues.

[JeanneAdil 6,489]

13 minutes ago, Kay98 said:

Hi! He has good credit now. It’s just the 2 year history and commission that is causing us issues.

Credit has to be US credit history for over a year / the 2 year they require is because of commission job 

salary plus commission or salary or hourly would be different 

 

There's  a lot of other factors in considering mortgage like

amount of down payment

loan to value ratio

debt to income

property type

discount points

closing costs

 

it helps to know where u and the property stand on all these so just applying is not enough

understand the system

and ask if u will need to pay extra for 10 years the MPI (mortgage insurance to cover the mortgage is u default on loan -this is different than the regular homeowner's insurance

[Kay98 7]

1 hour ago, JeanneAdil said:

Credit has to be US credit history for over a year / the 2 year they require is because of commission job 

salary plus commission or salary or hourly would be different 

 

There's  a lot of other factors in considering mortgage like

amount of down payment

loan to value ratio

debt to income

property type

discount points

closing costs

 

it helps to know where u and the property stand on all these so just applying is not enough

understand the system

and ask if u will need to pay extra for 10 years the MPI (mortgage insurance to cover the mortgage is u default on loan -this is different than the regular homeowner's insurance

He is commission but he does have a base pay… I’m not sure if that’ll make a difference. Maybe lenders think he’s ONLY commission without base pay. I don’t know.. But I heard some cases where they’ll put your partner there even if they don’t have a 2 year work history. But yeah, his credit in the U.S. hasn’t been a year just yet (I think).